Playing with Naru chan
by jactehsniper
Summary: A series of one-shots all about the SPR employees and their favourite pastime: annoying their boss with all sorts of pranks and games. Contains spoilers and seems to be veering towards a MaixNaru theme.
1. Mai is a worthy opponent

This is the first in a series of One shots. Complete Sillyness! XD

This is my first story to be posted, so please be sure to give me your feedback. XD

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, shape, or form, own Ghost Hunt and it's characters. But how I wish that I did!

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**Playing with Naru-chan: Mai is a worthy opponent.**

It was silent. Completely silent.

An eyebrow twitched in annoyance. It was _too_ silent.

The eyebrow's owner glared at the door opposite. Attempting to see through the wooden door and into the next room, and failing miserably. Though movement of those on the other side of the door could normally be heard at this time of day, there was strangely no sign of anyone's presence in the slightest.

A set of deep blue eyes narrowed. Something was not right.

The file that had previously held the person's interest was lowered to the desk slowly. There should be sound. Lots of sound, considering the time of day, and who was supposed to be in the next room. And yet, there was nothing but silence.

A finger repeatedly tapped a knee. There was definitely something wrong.

Deciding the situation was bad enough to warrant investigation, the chair was pushed back silently and vacated. Careful not to make a sound, the desk was stepped around, the bookshelf passed by and the filing cabinets ignored. The door, however, was the subject of doubtful consideration.

A hand slowly grasped the door handle. The eyebrows furrowed. This was it, the point of no return.

To open, or not to open?

Finally coming to a decision, the handle was turned and the door swung open ever so slowly.

And the silence continued.

Four sets of eyes focused in on the open doorway.

Silence.

All movement came to a halt.

Yet more silence.

An eyebrow twitched. This was…unexpected.

The door swung closed once more with an inaudible click. The filing cabinets ignored, the bookshelves passed, the desk stepped around, and chair once again inhabited.

Four sets of eyes stared at the closed door. Slowly, four grins formed on four faces.

And the silence was broken.

"You owe me 1000 yen, Takigawa-san." A voice stated clearly, drifting through the closed doorway and within earshot of a certain set of ears.

"Ahhhh!" A second voice spoke up in defeat. "Who would have thought Naru was so easy to tease?"

The same set of ears twitched as a giggling young female's voice floated through the air. "Just wait till Lin-san arrives."

Minutes later fours set of eyes looked up at the front door as it swung open. The man in the doorway blinked, showing no other signs of reaction. The four sets of eyes continued to stare at him as he took in the scene. Four people dressed in black suits and black wigs sat in couches before him. Each one nursing an open file in their laps, and holding a cup of tea.

He blinked a second time. Yes, there were indeed four Naru look-a-likes staring back at him.

"Hello Lin-san." The youngest of the four spoke cheerfully.

"Good afternoon Taniyama-san." He replied in his usual manner.

The front door closed, a long black coat was hung on the coat stand, and the door to one of the offices opened and then closed.

Silence ensued.

And then, much to the surprise of four out of the six people currently located in the Shibuya Psychic Research offices, muffled fits of laughter rang from Lin's office.

Mai Taniyama grinned victoriously, as three people gaped in disbelief.

"Naru-chan!!" She called out. "You owe me dinner for a week!!"

An eyebrow twitched in disbelief. Had he heard right?

The eyebrow's owner glared at the door opposite. Had he just lost a betting game with Mai?

A set of deep blue eyes narrowed. Yes, apparently he had.

A finger repeatedly tapped a knee thoughtfully. What did Mai like to eat anyway?

Deciding the situation was bad enough to warrant investigation, a throat was cleared, and two words were called: "Mai! Tea!"


	2. Tag, you're it!

Well, here's the second installment. I don't think it's amusing as the first one, but I hope you enjoy! XD

Also, I'm not going to type a disclaimer every time. . I think we all know I couldn't possibly be claiming Ghost Hunt as my own. So, don't sue me for not mentioning it from this point on....Please.

And thank you to those who reviewed, or added me to their alerts and favourites. I was shocked to get such a response so soon. ^_^

Enjoy!

**Edited 29/11/09:** I made a few fixes here and there. Nothing major; it still reads the same. Sorry for spamming your inbox! XD -Jac

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Playing with Naru-chan: Tag, you're it!**

The tall male tapped his arm irritably, fixing a cold glare on his noisy employees. Or rather, to be more precise, his young assistant, who had been chatting non-stop from the moment she'd stepped out the van. The five people she was conversing with had joined right in without a moment's thought. Even the kimono clad medium, who normally showed self-constraint, had been swiftly caught up in Mai's chatter.

Not one of them had noticed him clearing his throat. Nor had any of them paid any attention to his presence in the slightest. His eyes narrowed slightly, while the group started laughing at something his other assistant had said.

Enough was enough. It was high time Mai learnt to do her work first, chatter second. Or at the very least, do them both at the same time.

"Mai," he spoke loudly, taking the 'I'm not impressed' tone he usually adopted when annoyed at the younger girl. Yes, they all knew what that meant.

They all fell silent and turned to face him, plastering expressions of innocence on their faces.

"Yes, Naru?" Mai asked tentatively. She knew she was in trouble, but she didn't know how to get out of it…yet.

"The equipment needs setting up, temperatures of each room taken, and the client questioned on specifics," he stated coolly. "How much of this has been done?"

"Ahh….none," she said sheepishly.

"And who is going to start unpacking the equipment and setting up base?" he asked, eyeing the girl as she scratched her nose in an effort to hide her embarrassment.

"Um…we are?" she asked.

"No," Naru almost smirked at the look on her face.

"No?" she looked confusedly at her boss, not sure what to make of it.

"It's going to be you."

There was silence. Mai stared up at him. He stared down at her.

"By myself?" she asked incredulously.

"Correct."

No one said a word. Mai stared up at him. He stared down at her. And then…

Naru felt a sharp jab on his arm, as Mai poked him. "Tag, you're it." She grinned mischievously and ran away as quick as she could in the direction of the house. The other five stared at Mai's retreating figure, then at Naru, and then at each other.

"Run for it!!" Takigawa yelled, as he turned on his heel and sprinted after Mai. And they did exactly that, leaving their boss behind.

Naru stared at them. This was a first.

He glanced up as Lin appeared from the other side of the van, a puzzled look on his face. "What's-?" he started to ask, curious as to why everyone was running toward the house, but Naru cut him off.

"Tag, you're it," he said, poking Lin, as Mai had poked him. "Now get to work." Naru walked away calmly, ignoring Lin's surprised expression.

"That girl…" Naru muttered under his breath, suppressing a smirk. As much as he hated to admit it, he was rather amused.


	3. Duck!

And here is installment number three. It's different from the others, more...filling...I guess, and not as funny. But I simply couldn't _not_ write it once the idea popped into my head. XD

Let me know what you think.

Thank you, once again, to all those who reviewed and added this to their alerts/faves. Puts a smile on my face every time I see a new one pop up! ^_^

Enjoy!

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**Playing with Naru-chan: Duck!**

Naru was irritated. The cause of his irritation? The one and only Houshou Takigawa, and his incessant yelps of 'Duck!'.

It wasn't as though it was absolutely necessary for him to keep yelling it out from the reception area where he, John, Yasuhara, and Mai were currently moving, relocating, adjusting, assembling, disassembling, bringing in, carting out, stacking up, sorting out and reorganizing the furniture and general layout of the room. A task that could not be pushed aside any longer, since they now had to make room for an extra desk, a coat rack, filing cabinets, Mai's new work cubicle, and a new bookshelf.

The task itself wasn't a cause for bother, nor was the timing. However, hearing the monk shout "Duck!" every few minutes or so was getting to Naru in ways he hadn't thought possible. In fact, it almost made him regret having employed Yasuhara as the new part-time administrative assistant, and promoting Mai up to part-time investigator.

Almost.

He sat at his desk, a finger tapping the open file before him in agitation as Takigawa yelled yet again. This time followed by Mai's startled yelp, and Yasuhara's laughter. Naru's eyebrow twitched. Surely this much noise wasn't necessary?

He continued to sit and brood in his office, not wanting to investigate, and not wanting to allow them to carry on as they pleased.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Naru's door…

Mai was currently assembling the new office chairs, whilst making sure she didn't get stood on by Takigawa or John as they carted the old furniture out to the van, and brought the new furnishings in.

And Yasuhara?

He was in charge of disassembling the old (and now much too small) bookshelf, its contents stacked haphazardly in the corner with the pot plants.

And do you think any of them could manage to coordinate themselves enough to _not_ get caught in the path of a wayward plank, or piece of furniture?

No. Most certainly not. The very idea itself was preposterous.

Having realized this early on (after getting whacked in the head twice), Takigawa had taken it upon himself to yell out a warning whenever something came dangerously close to hitting someone. An excellent idea if he did say so himself, which he did.

Little did he know the insurmountable amount of aggravation he had caused the young man in the office behind him.

And so, they continued on, happy as Larry…perhaps even happier.

Meanwhile, in Naru's office…

Naru's finger continued to tap the file, more aggressively as time went on. His eyebrows had developed a slight twitch, and his eyes had not shifted their hefty glare from the closed door for nearly fifteen minutes.

"Duck!" Takigawa bellowed loudly, quickly followed by a loud thud and a crash.

Naru snapped.

He was on his feet, and at the door in the blink of an eye, determined to give his employees his deadliest of death glares from the moment that he opened the door. The door was thrown open and he took in the chaotic scene before him, slightly stunned as to how they could have possibly made such a mess.

John was staggering around, trying to avoid standing on the mass of spilt paper work and office supplies from the now upended drawers of Mai's desk, a large pot plant in his arms. Mai was crouched in between the half assembled chairs, eyeing Takigawa warily.

The said monk was attempting to carry the side planks of the old bookshelf on his shoulder and out of the office; however, having needed to suddenly dodge Yasuhara, he was now stumbling around trying to regain his balance, coming precariously close to hitting both Mai and John with his load.

And Yasuhara?

He was calmly carrying the now empty desk drawers to the corner of the room, completely ignoring the fact that he'd just upended them on the floor. Why should he worry? They needed sorting anyway.

Before Naru could even so much as blink, John slipped and lost his balance, slamming into Yasuhara's side and upending the poor pot plant on top of the pile of office supplies. Yasuhara staggered to his right, tripped over the half assembled chairs and straight towards Takigawa. There was only time enough to identify the odd display of human dominoes before Takigawa jumped backwards, avoiding the impending collision.

"Naru! DUCK!" Mai yelled at him a moment too late. The planks came hurtling towards him before he could even register the movement, and with a loud thud, he was knocked to the floor, winded by the blow.

There was complete silence as everyone stared at Naru. All watched with baited breath as he slowly sat up, and fixed them with the most disapproving of glares. Mai cringed, John blushed in embarrassment, and Takigawa was attempting to look innocent.

And Yasuhara?

He smiled beamingly at his boss, pointed, and said in the most cheerful of manners: "Goose."

Naru was _not_ amused.


	4. Tea with Yasuhara

Hello to you all!!  
Well.......what can I say? It's longer, has a skirt fetish, and a very near kiss with Naru.

I've set the rating to T just to be on the safe side. .

Thanks again to all those who reviewed! I appreciate the positive feedback. ^_^

And without further delay, I present you with installment 4.

Enjoy!

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**Playing with Naru-chan: Tea with Yasuhara **

It was a bright, sunny, summer afternoon and Osamu Yasuhara was admiring the world from the SPR office window sill. He smiled down at the busy streets (much like one would expect of an indulgent caregiver) appreciating all the little things that made summer such a splendid season. Yes, the birds were singing, a breeze was blowing, the trees were swaying, the cat on the corner was sunbathing, and the street below was bustling with happy shoppers.

And of course, the best bit…the skirts.

Yes indeed, Summer was a grand season; the best time of the year in fact. Not for the sun, but for the many women in swishy skirts and pretty sundresses. Yasuhara loved nothing more than to see the female species show off their legs each day of the summer months. And today was no exception. He smiled contentedly, as a flock of young women crossed the street, twittering with gossip, their skirts flaring out with the sway of their hips. Yasuhara smiled serenely, lost in his thoughts of admiration for popular clothing item.

The clacking of high heels. The swaying of hips flicking the skirt's hem about in a hypnotizing fashion. The tantalizing…

"Mai! Tea!"

…scent of tea…

Yasuhara paused, puzzled as to why his thoughts had taken a bizarre twist. Tea? Why tea? Indeed, it was a wonderful beverage, and he quite enjoyed it himself.

But what on earth did that have to do with the joy of the skirt?

After a minute of thought, it hit him: his boss had called for Mai to make tea. However, Mai was not in the office, having accompanied Lin on an errand an hour ago. Yasuhara supposed the young man had clean forgotten though, and had called from force of habit. A quick glance at the clock showed that Mai wasn't due back for another ten minutes. Taking this into consideration, the teen got to his feet, brain kicking into gear. A mischievous smirk graced his face as a plot formed in his mind. Well, he supposed he should fill in Mai's regular role, smirk turning to an evil grin as he strode towards the kitchenette.

And so, as one would expect (or not, as the case may be), after taking roughly five minutes bustling around in the kitchenette, Yasuhara presented himself before a vaguely surprised Naru.

"Naru-kun." He greeted, placing the tea on the desk and plopping himself down in the chair opposite. The young university student sipped his own cup of tea, eyes on the clock, completely indifferent to Naru's sharp glare.

With a slight sigh, Naru picked up the steaming cup. It didn't look like his assistant was going to take the hint. But, he supposed, a few minutes wasted weren't going to matter in the long run, his morning had been more productive than usual after all.

Happy with the timing, Yasuhara lowered the cup to his lap, and eyed his boss. "I hope you aren't too busy." He spoke softly. "It's rare for us to have a moment alone; we should use this opportunity to our advantage."

Naru paused mid-sip, meeting the teen's gaze with his own. "Is that so?" He asked, instantly suspicious of the other boy. It was a known fact that Yasuhara, though a reliable employee and excellent researcher, was an aspiring troublemaker in disguise.

"But of course!" Said troublemaker exclaimed, placing his tea cup on the table, and rising to his feet. He darted around the desk, and peered out the window, paying Naru's disapproving glare no mind. "After all, how often is Mai-chan ever out of the office when we're both here? Never! We arrive and leave at the same time every single day." Yasuhara spoke woefully. "It's infuriating!" He spun around suddenly, eyes gleaming with emotion.

Naru stopped all movement. He stared as the bespectacled teen stepped forward and leant over him, resting an arm on the back of the chair. A small voice in the back of his mind puzzling over exactly what his employee was scheming.

Yasuhara, gazed down at his boss, amused at the barely disguised confusion. He glanced at the clock, assuring himself that everything was going to plan, before leaning in even closer, using his free hand to gently relocate Naru's tea cup to the desk. "I never get to spend any time with you, Naru-chan." He whispered, brushing his hand against the trapped man's cheek, and leaning into his ear. "And I so dearly want to spend time with you." He murmured, making sure to brush is lips against the earlobe.

Naru's hand snapped up, grasping Yasuhara's wrist and pulling it away from his face. "What exactly do you think you're doing?" He demanded in a low voice, barely keeping the growl out of his voice.

_Crash!_

Both boys' eyes jerked towards the doorway, shocked by the sudden disturbance.

Much to Yasuhara's glee, and Naru's displeasure, Mai stood in the doorway, a pile of disks and files at her feet. She stared in shock at the scene before her, eyes darting from one to the other in an attempt to process exactly what it was she'd stumbled in on.

Of course, to her eyes, it appeared as though Naru had pulled Yasuhara to him for what looked like, a kiss. Which…well…was not something Mai had ever expected to walk in on.

"S-sorry!" She squeaked, finally averting her eyes out of embarrassment, and bent down to retrieve the dropped items as quick as she could.

"This isn't what it looks like." Naru said as calmly as he could. Anger was coursing through his body. He was furious at himself for having allowed his assistant the opportunity to put him in such a compromising position.

"Naru-chan!" Yasuhara pouted, not at all ready to give up on his fun. "I thought you loved me!" He cried melodramatically, struggling not to laugh at the dirty look he was thrown.

"Love?!" Mai gasped, eyes wide as saucers.

_OH. MY. GOD._

Mai stared, mouth hanging open.

Naru scowled. This was _not_ going well. "I said no such thing." He growled, throwing Yasuhara's wrist away from him, and shoving the boy off.

There was complete silence as Naru seethed, Mai gaped, and Yasuhara looked thoughtful. And then suddenly, as though nothing had happened at all, Yasuhara turned from Naru, and was Mai's side in an instant.

"Mai-chan." He said brightly, helping to her to her feet. "Don't worry, Naru-kun is too much of a shameless tease for me." He pulled her towards him, encircling his arms around her slim waist. "You know you'll always be the one for me." Mai blushed furiously at his words, Naru almost snarled.

Yes, almost.

"Who's shameless?" Naru asked coldly. Getting to his feet with every intention of rescuing Mai from the devil's clutches.

Yes, Yasuhara had just taken on the roll of Satan in Naru's mind. Complete with horns, tail, and pitchfork. Even the curly moustache.

Yasuhara ignored him, enraging his boss even further. "Mai-chan, that skirt looks fantastic on you." He cooed, laughing silently.

He'd got to admire more skirts after all, wasn't he lucky?!

He hadn't much time to appreciate the thought though, before Naru reached them, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him away from a still blushing and shocked Mai.

_Well, we can't have that now, can we?_ Yasuhara thought amusedly. He pulled Mai forwards and swung her towards the other boy, effectively swapping places with her.

_Oooo, what a lovely skirt flick._

Naru caught the female investigator before she could topple over, and threw his most potent, comatose inducing, death glare at Yasuhara. Who looked completely unperturbed. Rather, he was calmly dusting himself off, as though nothing at all was wrong, and that his boss had no reason in the world to be angry at him.

"Now now, Naru-kun." He said, putting on his most innocent of looks. "If you're _that_ jealous we can always work something out that would please the three of us." He winked at Mai, barely masking his amusement at the mortified look on her face as the implications registered. Forcing himself not to laugh, he continued. "I'm sure Mai-chan won't mind sharing too much."

For once in his life, Naru was at a loss for words. He stared at Yasuhara, too angry to let it go, but too stunned and confused to make any sense of the past fifteen minutes. He spluttered, in an attempt to form words, and failed miserably.

Yes, Naru always-has-something-to-say, had failed. Failed epically.

_Success!_ Yasuhara's inner voice cackled maniacally.

"No?" He asked, as if asking them out to lunch. He heaved a heavy sigh. "Well then, I'm afraid I can't continue like this. I'm sure the two of you can figure something out between you." He turned and stepped out of the room, turning slightly to close the door on his two very confused colleagues.

"Do let me know if you change your mind though." He said cheerfully, pulling the door shut.

Yasuhara strolled over to the window, wearing a maddeningly wicked grin, and resumed his skirt admiring.

Yes indeed, Summer was a grand season.


	5. Abnormality Overload

Hello hello!

I was listening to this song earlier, and just couldn't help myself! XD

Naru may be a little more OOC in this one than the others.

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Caramel Dansen (Speedycake remix). Even I'm not crazy enough to come with that. XD

Swedish lyrics found at: http:// anti-cosmoiscute. deviantart .com/ art/ Caramel-Dansen-Lyrics-Swedish-79359245 (take out the spaces)

Thanks once again to every one who reviewed! You guys brighten up my day! ^_^

Here's installment 5. ^_^

Enjoy!

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**Playing with Naru-chan: Abnormality Overload**

It was a normal day. A perfectly normal uneventful day, just how Naru liked them.

No unexpected surprises. No weird goings on in his office's reception area. No odd visits by not-so-welcome monks and mikos. And no ridiculous pranks from a certain well disguised smart ass.

A perfectly uneventful, peaceful, utterly normal day.

And that was exactly how Naru liked them.

As per Naru's perfectly uneventful, peaceful, utterly normal schedule, he had arrived at exactly 8.50am that morning, unlocked the office, entered, and proceeded to go through the day's research files. At 9am he greeted two of his assistants as they arrived for work, and told the third off when she arrived 9.13am.

Inarguably completely and utterly normal.

Exactly how Naru liked it.

At 9.20am he had his first cup of tea, and proceeded to have six more before 12.30pm. At which point he left for his lunch break. During said lunch break he visited the café across the road and had his usual egg salad sandwich and tea.

A typically pleasant, completely and utterly normal day.

And did Naru like it that way? Haven't you been paying attention? Of course he liked it that way!

So when Naru arrived back at the door to the SPR offices at 1.15pm, and heard dance music playing on the other side, he froze. Brow furrowed, and lips set into a definite and obvious frown, he stood outside his office hand on the door handle, still as a statue.

This was _**not**_ normal.

His perfectly-typical-uneventful-peaceful-pleasant-inarguably-completely-and-utterly-_**normal**_-day was _**no more**_.

And Naru most definitely did _**not**_ like it.

Naru blinked as he heard the lyrics drift from the inside of the office.

'_Vi undrar är ni redo att vara med  
Armarna upp nu ska ni få se  
Kom igen  
Vem som helst kan vara med  
Så rör på era fötter  
Oa-a-a  
Och vicka era höfter  
O-la-la-la  
Gör som vi  
Till denna melodi'_

What on earth?! It wasn't even Japanese! Could this day get any less normal?!

'_Dansa med oss  
Klappa era händer  
Gör som vi gör  
Ta ngåra steg åt vänster  
Lyssna och lär  
Missa inte chansen  
Nu är vi här med  
Caramelldansen  
O-o-oa-oa...'_

Naru, fearing for his sanity, slowly turned the doorknob. Better to see the full extent of damages his day would have to suffer sooner, rather than later.

'_O-o-oa-oa...aoh…_

_O-o-oa-oa..._

_O-o-oa-oa...aoh…'_

Perhaps he could salvage something afterward.

He opened the door, and stopped.

Just stopped.

He was having an abnormality overload.

Perhaps we should back track to 12.50pm when Takigawa, Ayako and John had arrived at the SPR office to cause Naru some mild annoyance, by way of using his reception area as a coffee shop. He seemed to hate that, hence it's appeal.

They were immediately disappointed to find out that Naru had already left for lunch, and performed a simultaneous flop onto the couches grumpily. Well, at least Takigawa and Ayako did. Lin soon emerged, being dragged out by Yasuhara's orders to be social every now and then.

Mai then served tea and attempted to cheer everyone up, even Lin, who seemed to want nothing more than to escape back into the depths of the shadowy abyss, otherwise known as his office.

It was at this point in time (1.10pm) that Yasuhara pulled out his ipod and a set of speakers. He then proceeded to set said equipment up on the coffee table, and scrolled through his playlist. Stopping on a song, he pressed play, set it to repeat track, and turned the volume up.

What song you ask?

Caramel Dansen (Speedycake remix).

Yes, it was the Caramel Dance.

Yasuhara was on his feet doing the dance, Mai (grinning like an idiot) joined in moments later. Once over the initial shock, Takigawa jumped up, and dragging John with him, joined the caramel dance line up. Ayako stared at them, before shrugging and joining in.

And Lin?

He settled for tapping his foot to the beat whilst sipping his tea.

No matter how catchy the song was, he was _**not**_ going to do such a ridiculous dance. Regardless of how much fun it looked.

It was this scene that Naru so fearfully opened the door upon.

It was a complete and utter abnormality overload for the young company president.

Seizing this rare opportunity, Yasuhara pranced forward (to the beat), apprehended Naru and proceeded (with Mai's help) to get him to join them before his mind rebooted and was back in working order.

Surprisingly, Naru's mind was frozen with abnormality overload error messages for an hour.

And from that day on Naru would have nightmares of being forced to do the caramel dance in a frilly pink cosplay for every body to see.

In short:

The caramel dance is a scary, scary creation to be feared by all.


	6. Drunken Episode I

Hello!! I'm sorry that it's been so long since I last updated. I went camping, and then I had a bad case of writer's block. -_-;

But here's an extra long one for you all. I hope you enjoy it, despite it not being as funny.

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed!! Enjoy!

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**Playing with Naru-chan: Drunken Episode I**

It was the dead of night. The moon was shining bright through the window, the sounds of scattered night traffic floating up from the streets below, and Naru was sitting on the couch sipping a cup of tea.

The quiet was good; relaxing and perfect for forgetting the day's troubles in favour of more pleasant thoughts. Naru smiled contentedly, sipping his tea and leaning comfortably into the large leather couch.

_**BANG!!**_

"Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

Naru straightened up with a start, his tea dangerously close to spilling from the cup, and stared at the now open doorway in surprise. Takigawa, Yasuhara, Ayako and Mai were stumbling inside, giggling about some unknown joke as they leaned on each other for support. Naru wondered vaguely what on earth was wrong with them, until he spotted the plastic bag Yasuhara was swinging around haphazardly as he attempted to close the door and stay upright.

Alcohol.

Naru's eyes narrowed as he studied the four. They were definitely intoxicated to varying degrees. Ayako appeared to be the worst as she was spluttering incoherently and seemed to be relying on Takigawa to keep her upright and moving. Not that the monk was any better. The two stumbled across to the couches, Takigawa singing a theme from the old batman TV series, substituting 'Naru' for 'Batman' so that it sounded much like this: "Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-NARU!"

Naru felt a sudden urge to boot the monk out the window, but knowing there was no chance Takigawa would survive (or that _he_ would get off murder charges), he did the next best thing. Glare the deadliest of death glares and hope to hell that the monk shut up in fear. Either the monk hadn't noticed, or the amount of alcohol he'd consumed came with death glare immunity, because it didn't faze him in the slightest.

With a sigh, Naru turned away from the (still) singing monk and turned to look at his two assistants, who were still at the door. Mai was trying her damndest to keep Yasuhara on his feet as he finally got the door closed successfully. Naru frowned. The other three were (marginally) acceptable, they were of legal drinking age; Mai was not.

Well that ruined his plans of shoving tea down their throats, calling a taxi and sending them all home as soon as possible. He couldn't send Mai home with these three drunkards, there was no telling what would happen. She was prone to enough trouble when sober; he didn't want to know what kind of mess she could get herself into when drunk.

At least she seemed to be the least intoxicated in Naru's opinion. She wasn't staggering about nearly as much as Yasuhara, and only stumbled when trying to keep him from falling over.

"Don'cht yoush ever go schome?" Naru turned to see Ayako leaning forward drunkenly, struggling to focus on him. He raised an eyebrow, and calmly replied.

"I was having a final cup of tea before locking up for the night, actually." He drank the now cool tea, and placed the empty cup on the coffee table between them. Ignoring the irritated stare the miko fixed on him.

"You're nevsher gonna getsch a girlfriendsh like that." She slurred disapprovingly, waving at him in disgust. Naru merely stared at her. Girlfriend? He had no use for one. Masako was bad enough. And he didn't want a _real_ girlfriend for fear it would be worse.

Takigawa smirked. "Yeah Naru-bou, you should come out with us every now and then. Ya might start acting like a teenager."

"And participate in getting a minor drunk?" Naru asked icily, pointedly looking in Mai's direction, where she was depositing Yasuhara in the empty arm chair. A difficult task, as he kept trying stand back up, claiming to want to go see if Lin was in his office. Takigawa straightened up at the rebuke.

"We went out for dinner, and I thought it couldn't hurt for her to have a drink or two." He said in his defence. "It is Ayako's birthday after all." Naru fixed him with a glare, but didn't say anything more, it was considered acceptable for minors to have a drink or two over dinner if accompanied by adults. At least, his parents had always considered it so.

"I just want to see if he's in, Mai-chan." Yasuhara whined, attempting, rather unsuccessfully, to get up again. "He was curious about sake, and I have some now." He explained, waving the plastic bag about.

"Lin had an appointment and left just after you did, Yasuhara." Naru said coolly, telling him to sit down, and stay down, with a cold glare.

"Oh, is that right?" He said, laughing embarrassedly. Mai stepped back, apparently satisfied that he wasn't going to wander around the office crashing into things. She stood there a moment surveying the group, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Mai." Naru said, gaining her attention quickly. He was about to tell her to sit down before she fell down. He'd noticed her beginning to sway on her feet. But before he could get words out, she had given him a beaming smile, seized the empty tea cup from the table and was skipping to the kitchen in the wonkiest line Naru had ever seen.

"I know!" She called over her shoulder, punching her free arm into the air as she did so. "Tea!" The other three drunken idiots started laughing at her.

"Don't fall over!" Takigawa teased, grinning like a mad man. Mai stopped and turned to face him, one leg swinging out madly. Naru thought she might swing herself off balance and straight into the filing cabinet beside her, but she miraculously stayed upright.

"There aren't any gutters in here, Bou-san." She stuck out her tongue. Yasuhara slipped out of his chair laughing. Ayako looked as though she'd just been slapped.

"Thatsch _wash not_ a gutter!" She bellowed indignantly, slapping Takigawa over the head as he snorted with laughter. "It wash a _frick'n _ditch za shize of a car!" She swung her arms out as far as possible, whacking the monk again. Naru stared, his mouth twitching with amusement.

Well….that was something he hadn't heard before.

Mai swung back around, and marched to the kitchen, once again as crookedly as possible without crashing into anything, ignoring Ayako's continued bellows. She'd been gone from their sight no more than three seconds before there was a loud crash. They all looked up in surprise. "I'm alright!" She called, and they could here a few more bangs, and her cursing the kettle.

Naru sighed and got to his feet. It was best she _didn't_ do anything that could potentially burn herself, and/or the office. He quickly followed her into the kitchen. "Mai, I don't need anymore-"

Mai shoved him back out of the kitchen before he could finish. "It'll be done in a minute, go sit and wait." She said, shoving him back in the couch's direction.

"Mai." He said sternly, reaching for her arm so he could steer her towards the couch. Mai slapped his arm away angrily.

"It'll be done in a minute." She repeated in a low growl, hands on her hips. Naru stared at her, not understanding why she was mad at him.

"Mai, sit down." He said, trying to guide her away from the kitchen again.

"No!" Mai yelled, slapping his arm away again. Takigawa snorted from the direction of the couch. "I'm making tea now!" Naru stared at her.

"I don't need you to ma-"

"I'm making you tea, you narcissistic bastard!" She growled, poking him in the chest roughly. "And you're going to drink it! So go sit your ass down and let me make it in peace!" She spun him around roughly and pushed him back towards the couch before storming back into the kitchen.

Naru stood stunned, ignoring the three laughing idiots rolling around on the couch. _What on earth?_

Mai returned a few minutes later, the beaming smile on her face once again, till she saw that Naru was still standing up. "Sit down!" She ordered, a dark scowl on her face. Something about her demeanour made Naru obey without question, and he quickly returned to the couch and sat. The other three were laughing even harder, thinking it was the funniest thing in the world.

The moment he'd settled on the couch, her smile returned and she handed him the cup of tea, which he took without question.

One moment passed. Then another. And another.

Naru hadn't moved, nor had Mai.

"Well?" Mai asked dangerously, an ugly glare trained on her boss. Naru blinked.

"Thank you?" He asked, not sure if that was what she'd been waiting for or not. It seemed it was, as she suddenly beamed again and chirped a cheery "You're welcome.", before plonking on the couch next to him, humming a happy little tune. Naru blinked in confusion. Had Mai always been this moody?

Scratch that. Had Mai always been this bipolar?

One moment passed. Then another. And another.

Naru hadn't moved, nor had Mai.

"Well?" Mai asked dangerously, turning yet another ugly glare on her boss. Naru blinked in confusion.

_Now what? I already said thank you!_

"DRINK!" Mai roared at him, making him start in surprise, almost spilling the tea. "Ungrateful narcissistic bastard!" She muttered darkly. Naru shot her a wary glance, and obeyed.

He raised the teacup to his mouth, and took a small sip.

One moment passed. Then another. And another.

Naru hadn't moved, nor had Mai.

"Mai." Naru said, lowering the cup.

"Yes Naru?" She asked amiably, apparently satisfied with a sip.

"What is this?"

"Tea."

Naru stared at her. This was _not_ tea. There was no way in _hell_ that this was tea. It tasted like sock sweat with lemon and a shot of vodka mixed together with a raw pork chop, and then heated in the microwave for two minutes. How was it possible for her to do a complete 180 degrees after a drink or two?! Tea wasn't that hard to make.

"Don't you like it?" She asked, the ugly glare returning, this time accompanied by an evil aura. Naru gulped.

"Of course I do." He said swiftly and drank the tea as calmly and quickly as he could without gagging. He hoped she would be more agreeable when he was finished so he could negotiate getting her and the others home.

He had no such luck.

Mai beamed at him, taking the empty teacup. She stood up cheerfully and practically bounced towards the kitchen. "I'll go make you another one then." She called cheerfully as she disappeared into the kitchen once more.

One moment passed. Then another. And another.

Naru stared after her in horror. "Oh god no…" He whispered weakly, too horrified by Mai's disgusting drunk's tea, and her mood swings to do anything. Takigawa, Ayako and Yasuhara howled with laughter from were they lay, not feeling even slightest bit sorry for him. Would they rescue him from Mai's wrath?

Hell no!


	7. Hurry up, Lin!

Ok, this may be the last one till after new years. MAY. We'll see how I go about getting to a computer while I'm at my Grandma's.

This is shorter than the last few installments, but I found it more enjoyable to write. So enjoy!

Thanks once again to all who reviewed, or added me to their alerts. Merry Christmas!!

* * *

**Playing with Naru-chan: Hurry up, Lin!**

Naru looked at the girl beside him in barely disguised disbelief, amazed that she could rant on about the colour black for so long. They'd been stuck in the dark underground storage room for over an hour, waiting for someone to realise they'd gone missing and come look for them, and Mai had assaulted his ears with a constant barrage the whole time.

First it had been too dark, then it had been too hot, which had one way or another lead Mai to criticizing his dress sense. Even he, the self-confident genius, had begun to question his choice of clothing. And that _never_ happened.

"Really Naru, you're eighteen, dress like it!" Mai huffed, poking his arm roughly. Naru threw her a withering glare, which she returned completely unaffected.

"Mai…" He said warningly, irritated enough to make a mental note of getting navy coloured shirts, if only to shut her up a little bit. Mai continued to glare at him, looking as though she was going to continue anyway.

"Fine." She muttered finally, seeing she wasn't going to get anywhere by continuing any further. "I'll shut up about your fashion sense. But really, I think you're insane to be wearing the _same_ colour _every single day_." She fell silent at the warning look Naru shot her way.

_Finally._ Naru thought, relieved that she had stopped for the time being. He leant back, resting his head against the wall behind them, and closed his eyes, enjoying the silence.

Mai sat there glaring at the shelves opposite in a vain attempt to distract herself. Slowly she'd begun tapping her finger in agitation, resisting the urge to resume ranting. The tapping soon became twiddling her thumbs, and then full on fidgeting. After five minutes of agonising silence, she let out a frustrated growl, and turned to face Naru once again.

"I'm going insane." She said bluntly, Naru didn't move.

"You aren't going." He replied simply. "You're already there." Mai resisted the urge to hit him on the head, chanting silently in order to keep her temper.

_Must not act like Ayako. Must not act like Ayako. Must not act like Ayako._

It worked; at least, she no longer wanted to put into a coma. Just draw blood. Maybe leave a scar. Yes, a nice big pretty scar that she could then tattoo 'Inflicted by Mai' next to. She smirked, thinking his forehead would be the best place. Then he'd have to see it every time he looked in the mirror.

A fitting punishment for a narcissist, if she did say so herself.

"_You're_ driving me insane." She iterated once she'd calmed herself down enough to not physically injure the young man. "You, and your irritating wardrobe." Naru opened his eyes long enough to shoot her an annoyed glare.

"Seriously," she spoke, deliberately ignoring him. "You have no idea how much I want to keep calling you an idiot at the moment." She turned a glare on him. "Topic change, now. Something happy or I'll keep ranting."

Naru stared at her. She stared back at him determinedly. Blinking, slightly surprised, he said the first thing that came to mind.

"Cookies?"

Mai stared at him. "Cookies?" She frowned at him. "Naru, of all the things you could choose, you chose cookies?" Naru didn't reply, instead he just looked away from her appearing every bit annoyed.

"All there is to say is they are yummy..." She continued, knowing he was listening. He had to; there was nothing else to do. "Especially the choc chip ones and that's about it."

Mai poked him in the arm, staring at him stubbornly. "Try again."

Naru sighed in irritation. "Mai, why can't you just enjoy the silence?" He asked tiredly. Mai looked thoughtful a moment.

"Because I don't like being stuck in small, dark places." She replied eventually. "And we've been stuck in here for ages, with no light, and no way of getting anyone's attention." She threw him irritated glare. "Honestly, why did you insist we stop to check in here, anyway?"

Naru froze. "I thought I saw something." He said stiffly. Mai raised an eyebrow curiously.

"What?"

"It doesn't matter."

Mai huffed at him. "What?"

"It's none of your concern."

"Like hell it isn't." Mai grumbled sarcastically. "I'm stuck in here with you to, in case you didn't notice."

Naru glared at her. "How could I have not noticed?" He said scathingly. "You've barely shut up about my choice in clothes since we've been here."

"Well _excuse me_ for having an opinion!" Mai growled indignantly. "You're taste in clothes is horribly boring. You dress like an old man!"

And Mai was off on a rant again. Naru cringed, begging silently that Lin thought to come looking for them soon. He had a sneaky suspicion that he'd have a new wardrobe next week if he had to listen to anymore of this.

_Hurry up, Lin!_


	8. But why is the tea gone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! As it turns out, I was able to get to a laptop, so I was able to finish this as a Christmas gift for you all. And it's the longest one so far, too. Aren't you lucky? :P

Thanks again to those who reviewed.

Enjoy! ANd have a wonderful chrissy day! XD

* * *

**Playing with Naru-chan: But why is the tea gone?!**

Lin stared at the screen trying his best to ignore the shouts coming from outside his office. Obviously Naru had said something to upset Mai _again._ The boy was on a roll today, this had to be the ninth time since the girl had arrived an hour and half ago. He sighed as something heavy fell to the floor with a loud thud, followed by more scathing remarks concerning Mai's intelligence, and Mai's loud shouts of protest.

The dark haired man rubbed his temples in a vain attempt to keep a developing headache from settling in for the afternoon. _If only the two of them could get along like normal teenagers._ He thought glumly, knowing there was no way Naru would ever act normal. In fact, the day Naru acted like a typical eighteen year old boy was the day Lin agreed to wear cosplay.

Frilly Pink cosplay…complete with ribbons, sparkles and a magic wand. He shuddered at the thought, and was visibly sick when he thought of the reaction the photo-happy Madoka would have if she found out. He would _never_ be allowed to live it down.

A door slammed loudly, signalling Mai's untimely departure. Lin hoped it was only an errand she'd been sent on, he remembered the last time she'd left early in a temper. It had been two days before she came back to work, and that was only because he'd sent Yasuhara out to drag her back before Naru died of tea deprivation.

Lin knew first hand that Naru without tea was like unleashing the devil on a flock of unsuspecting children. And believe it or not, Naru couldn't make a cup of tea to save his life.

Go figure.

He listened to the sudden silence beyond his closed door, wondering if it was safe to go out and inspect the damage. To his surprise the quiet didn't last long at all.

"You know," Yasuhara's voice drifted from somewhere in the next room. "You _could_ try being a bit nicer to her. One of these days she won't come back, and then what will you do? You won't drink the tea anyone else makes, and you can't make it yourself. You'll go insane." Lin thought he detected a trace of amusement in the boy's tone and smiled slightly. At least he wasn't the only one that thought the situation was absurd.

"Mai won't leave." Naru said firmly, full of self-confidence. Lin shook his head. _Idiot. _

"Hmm, is that so?" Yasuhara didn't sound convinced. "Fine, suit yourself then. But I wouldn't push it Naru-kun, women tend to keep grudges. And Mai-chan has more than enough reasons to hold a grudge against you."

There was a sound of footsteps, followed by a knock at the door of Lin's office. Raising an eyebrow, he told whoever it was to come in. The door opened to reveal a bespectacled boy of eighteen, Osamu Yasuhara. The teen stepped in, closed the door behind him, and turned to face the older man with an exasperated expression. "This is getting ridiculous."

"My thoughts exactly." Lin replied, swivelling around to face Yasuhara. "I think I'm developing a permanent headache."

"I know what you mean." Yasuhara rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully. "I think it's about time someone stepped in and put a stop to this."

Lin gestured to the vacant chair next to his desk, sensing they would be there a while. "What did you have in mind?" If Lin had not known with the utmost certainty that the evil smirk that had just graced his junior's face was not directed towards him, he may have fled the country. Luckily, he knew that this was directed towards the unsuspecting male in the office down the hall.

_Naru, you are in for one hell of a shock._ He thought ruefully, making himself comfortable as Yasuhara began to explain his plan…

**^^**^^**

Mai hadn't come back since she'd stormed out four days ago and Naru was starting to get irritated. Very irritated. Mai hadn't answered her phone, no matter how many times he called. And when he had tried her school they had merely said she was attending class as usual, before promptly hanging up on him. As a result, he'd taken to pacing in his office, his eyebrows permanently knit into a frown. It was enough to drive him insane!

_Damn it! _He thought angrily, pacing once again, much like tiger trapped in a cage. _Why the hell isn't she coming to work?! I need my cup of tea, damn it!_

The grouchy teen was only leaving the confines of his office if the front door opened, in the hope that the brunette had returned. Of course, she never did. And he stalked back in scowling darkly and slamming the door behind him.

Lin watched in amusement as Naru slammed his door closed for the fifth time that day, sharing a knowing look with Yasuhara as they watched a disgruntled Masako stutter incoherently at the immediate dismissal.

"You'll have to forgive him." Yasuhara spoke cheerfully, as though his boss hadn't just slammed his door in the girl's face. "He hasn't had any tea for four days now, and it doesn't look like Mai will be coming back to make peace anytime soon."

Of course, he was the one who had convinced her to stay away from work until he or Lin said otherwise. But why mention such minor details to the young medium?

Masako hadn't stayed long. It seemed hearing Naru refused to drink anyone but Mai's tea was a bit too much for her to handle in one sitting. _Poor girl._ Lin thought pitifully. _She really should just give up on him._

They spent the next three days in much the same situation. The two of them apologised to all the foolish people who entered the offices, only to suffer the wrath of Naru, the Wicked Tea Monster of the West.

Naru was steadily wearing down the carpet of his office, and had slowly begun muttering to himself about a certain brunette and her vile plans of death by tea-deprivation. By the end of the sixth day they could hear snarls from behind the closed door, and he had developed a rather nasty twitch in his left eyebrow.

Mai, on the other hand, was enjoying an unexpectedly peaceful, tea-free week of hanging out with friends, completely oblivious to the fact that her boss was slowly descending into a pit of insanity in her absence.

Lin had to keep reminding himself that they were doing this for a purpose. It took everything he had not to charge out of the SPR offices and drag Mai back by the scruff of the neck, dump her in the kitchen and demand she make tea for 'The Thing', as Takigawa had dubbed him the day before. Which was why he wondered at Yasuhara's ability to function normally in the face of 'The Thing'. The teen had been all smiles all week, in fact, he hadn't seen him appear to be annoyed by their less-than-friendly boss in the slightest.

When confronted about it, Yasuhara had merely replied that he'd already had his Anti-Naru-ism shot and was now completely immune to death glares and disturbed mumblings. It seemed random snarls and flying files were also covered, because they didn't seem to bother him either, much Lin's astonishment.

On the eighth day of Mai's absence, Naru appeared to have snapped. After shouting, yes shouting, at a client over the phone, he stormed out, coat and keys in hand, looking almost possessed. The two other men watched with knowing expressions as he slammed the door after him, muttering about 'that annoying, useless twit of a girl'.

"Well, that happened sooner than expected." Yasuhara said, adjusting his glasses thoughtfully. "Good thing we got Mai-chan to stay at her friend's." Lin chuckled slightly, putting his book down and moving to the kitchen. Yasuhara followed. "You got everything then?"

"Yes." He replied curtly, pulling a partially filled plastic bag out of the cupboard and proceeded to place its contents on the shelf, before placing something in the bag and disappearing to his office to hide it. Now all they needed to do was make sure Mai turned up for work the next day.

It was the ninth day of Naru's tea withdrawal torture, and he stormed into the office on time as usual. He threw a glare at Mai's empty desk before storming into his office, the door slamming shut behind him, much to the amusement of Lin. It wasn't like Mai could get into the office before them; she didn't have a key to get in early.

Forget early, when was the girl ever on time?

Lin smirked, as only Lin could, and went to make himself tea. Yasuhara waltzed in soon after, depositing his belongings on his desk before joining Lin in the kitchen.

"So, how was he when he got back?" He asked mischievously, taking the steaming cup Lin offered him.

"Like a broody hen." Lin muttered darkly. Yasuhara laughed, glasses glinting in the light.

"Thankfully this will all end today." Lin continued in a relieved tone, he'd had more than enough of his moody charge. Yasuhara nodded in agreement, though the impish grin never left his face. Lin was convinced the younger man was enjoying this far too much.

At a little after three in the afternoon (and several of Naru's bouts of shouting and door slamming) the front door opened to reveal Mai. She stepped in quietly, smiling weakly at Yasuhara and Lin, who were both rummaging through the filing cabinets on yet another pointless assignment Naru had seen fit to designate to them. The two greeted the high schooler quietly, careful not to alert 'The Thing' of her presence.

Within seconds Mai's bag and jacket were replaced with a pile of files, and she was being steered to Naru's closed door. "Don't worry," Yasuhara whispered cheerfully, reaching up to knock on the door. "If we don't see you in five minutes we'll call an ambulance and kick the door in. I'm sure we'll be able to stop you from killing him." Mai stifled a giggle as he knocked, and backed away with a cheeky wink. She straightened her expression, ignored the bellow of "Go away!" and let herself in, closing the door behind her.

"I said go away, I'm busy." Naru growled, not looking up from the file he had stubbornly been staring at for the last twenty minutes. Mai rolled her eyes and put the files on the unusually messy desk.

"Fine, I'll leave then."

Naru froze, sure he was only imagining things.

"I have work to do anyway."

Naru's eyes widened as he looked up at the irritated brunette opposite him.

"Mai?!" He exclaimed, dropping the file instantly. His eyes studied her from head to toe, drinking up every detail and going through a mental checklist.

**Brown Hair:**_ check_.

**Short:** _check._

**School Uniform:** _check._

**Uninjured:** _check._

**Fidgeting:** ….

Mai tried to glare at him. Tried and failed. She felt extremely uncomfortable under his gaze, and was now looking anywhere but his direction. Naru almost smirked. Almost.

…_check._

**Temper:**…

Naru's eyes narrowed. "And where, pray tell, have you been?" He asked her coldly.

"You said I should leave." She supplied bluntly. "So I did. It's none of your business where I've been since then."

"As your employer it's my business to know why you aren't coming to work." He said as calmly as possible, irritated that he had indeed said that. Though, at the time, he hadn't thought she'd actually obey. "Now, where have you been? And why didn't you answer your phone?"

"Out." Mai shot back stubbornly, determined not to tell him anything more than that. He didn't need to know that it was all Yasuhara and Lin's doing. "And I was in _class._ I shouldn't even have my phone _at _school; we get detention if we're caught with one."

"That's no excuse." Naru spoke coldly. "I called outside of school hours as well, and you didn't pick up. Why?" Mai looked thoroughly irritated.

"Why?" She asked, glaring at him. "Because I didn't want to speak to you!"

"If I call you should pick u-" Mai cut him off before he could finish.

"Believe it or not, I have a life that _doesn't_ revolve around you!" She hissed, absolutely seething. "And I'm entitled to enjoy it, free of your narcissistic ass, if I should so choose."

Naru almost forgot to glare. Almost.

…_check._

**Is this the real Mai?**..._Yes._

Pleased with his conclusion, Naru stood up from his seat, ignoring her angry stare, grabbed her elbow and steered her to the door.

"Na-Naru?" Mai stuttered, looking nervous as he opened the door; she'd been struck by a sudden horror as they stepped out of his office. "You're not throwing me out are you? I only just got back."

"No, I'm not throwing you out." He said, pretty much dragging her to the kitchen, oblivious to the pair of amused males watching them.

_Finally!_ Naru thought ecstatically. He could finally have a cup of tea. Sweet, glorious tea! Oh, how he had missed it!

He let go of Mai, and turned to face the confused looking girl, serious as ever. "Tea." Mai blinked.

"Excuse me?" She asked in disbelief. She'd been sure she was going to be yelled at. Certain she'd be regretting this week for months to come. And yet, Naru was demanding…tea?

"Tea." Naru repeated, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at her. "I want you to make my tea."

Mai stared. Her mind went blank but for one word: Tea.

_Ehh?_

Naru tapped his finger irritably, glaring at her of her obvious lack of comprehension. How difficult was it to do as she was told and make tea? It wasn't like it was new to her. But before he could voice his opinion of her intelligence (in less-than-pleasant words), Mai came back to life, nodding slowly, and turning to fill the kettle.

The kettle was filled and left to boil. The teapot was found, along with four cups, and placed on the bench top. The milk taken from the fridge, the sugar bowl moved closer. The kettle went off and was taken off the heat. And then Mai opened the cupboard to retrieve the tin of tea leaves.

Mai froze, her hand outstretched. There was no tea. Why was there no tea? She stared at the shelf in confusion. Hot chocolate, coffee, marshmallows, honey, peanut butter, chocolate topping… Mai panicked.

There. Was. No. Tea!

Why was there no tea?!

Mai bit her lip, and turned to look at Naru warily. He was giving her a strange look, as though he thought she might have hit her head and knocked a few screws loose.

After a moment of staring in silence, Naru spoke. "What?"

"The tea is gone."

Naru stared. The tea was gone?

He frowned and stepped forward, pulling the cupboard door open wide so he could see. Mai was right. There was no tea.

Why was the tea gone?

Naru blinked, his mind boggling. "Why is the tea gone?" he asked quietly. Mai squeaked an impossible to understand reply and backed away. He turned to stare at her. "What did you do with it?"

"I didn't do anything." This time he could understand her words. "I haven't even been here all week."

Naru nodded slowly. She was right, she hadn't been here, and he'd seen her leave when she was. There was no way it could possibly be her. Realisation struck, and Naru whirled around, all his frustration channelled into one word.

"YASUHARA!"

"Yes Naru-kun?" Came the cheerful reply.

"Why is the tea gone?!" Naru asked icily, stepping out of the kitchen, Mai right behind him.

"Because you needed to learn a lesson, and what better way than to take your tea away?" Yasuhara said conversationally. Lin had conveniently disappeared, he could be rather swift and ninja like when need be. And Naru on a war path was most definitely 'need be'.

Naru stared. "But why is the tea gone?" he asked, not comprehending a single word…

It had been no easy task to get Naru to understand. The poor boy, it seemed his brain (as they had all suspected for years) really did run on tea.


	9. A Naru Twitch

Wow! Two in one day! Aren't you guys lucky. :P

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys had such a quick response, I'm impressed! XD

Merry Christmas once again, and I hope you enjoy this second gift to you all. ^_^

* * *

**Playing with Naru-chan: A Naru Twitch.**

Naru turned the page calmly. Because calm and composed is how a Naru should be.

It didn't matter that Yasuhara (his newly acquired assistant), and Takigawa (the resident Buddhist monk.) were peering over his shoulder, poking at the catalogue he was currently reading.

No. He, Naru, would be a Naru, and stay unaffected by their presence.

Because he was Naru and that was how a Naru should be.

Unfortunately, the page he had calmly turned to was the lingerie section.

Did Naru lose his composure? Of course not! Because that would not be the Naru thing to do…and he was Naru.

Takigawa grinned, nudging Yasuhara. "Hey now, I know I said to get something personal, but I didn't think he'd take me seriously." He commented, a teasing tone in his voice.

Naru twitched. A calm, collected, barely noticeable twitch.

A Naru twitch.

Because Naru's have their own personal type of twitch, else they wouldn't be Naru. And he was most definitely Naru.

Yasuhara leaned forward over the couch back, in order to get a better view of the page. "Hmmm, moving fast aren't we Naru-kun?" He asked, a teasing smile beginning to form.

"It's never too fast." Takigawa said sagely, pulling the catalogue out of Naru's hands before he could flip the page. "Besides, Mai's had a crush on Mr Handsome here since they met." He said off handedly, bearing a wolfish grin as he turned to examining the selection.

Naru groaned inwardly. How on earth had he gotten himself into this? Naru's weren't supposed to be looking at department store catalogues for a Secret Santa gift! He just knew he shouldn't have agreed to the idea.

"Oh. This ones not bad." Takigawa said brightly, shoving the catalogue in front of Naru and pointing out a particularly lacey black lingerie set. It was rather see through and wouldn't leave much to the imagination.

Naru stared at the page. Black? Black was good. Naru's like black, especially if said black was on-

Naru gave himself a mental slap. Naru's do not consider lingerie as a Christmas gift to their employees!

The Naru twitch twitched…like a Naru twitch. Because it was a Naru twitch, and that's what Naru twitches do.

Yasuhara, examined the piece with a critical eye. "Hmm…I don't think so. Mai has nice legs, you should show them off with strings." He then pointed a green set. "Like that one." The specified item's bottom was indeed, a strip of cloth attached on the sides with strings.

Naru looked at it thoughtfully. Strings wouldn't look bad…she'd be able to wear something with a split-

Naru shook himself mentally. If he could have punched himself he would have. These were not thoughts he should be having! He growled inwardly, determined not to reveal his internal struggle to the two vultures with him.

And that lovely calm, collected (and in no way noticeable) Naru twitch kicked up a notch. And when I say notch, I mean it went from first gear to fourth gear instantly, as Naru twitches are prone to do.

"No no no no. No." Takigawa declared, waving his hands in the shape of an 'x'. "Green is not Mai's colour. And besides, she hasn't enough rump to pull that off."

Naru's mind boggled. The monk was right, Mai was most definitely not a 'green' sort of person. But what he wanted to know was why he knew so much about Mai's 'rump'.

The twitch twitched at rapid pace. Employees were _not_ supposed to be ogling other employees. Especially if the employee in question was still in high school.

"It comes in black too." Yasuhara said, pointing at the colour chart next to the item.

Black? Black was goo-

Naru stopped his thought process immediately. He would not go there again. No, not again. He would most definitely _not_ think about the little black number on the slim supple body-

_Damn!_

The Naru twitch increased its twitch rate. If it was a heart, I'm sure Naru would be dead by now.

While Naru was other wise preoccupied, Takigawa and Yasuhara had continued to discuss the matter and had come to the opinion that they required more opinions. To put it bluntly, what did Naru think was best? So, they shook him roughly by the shoulders, waved the catalogue in his face, and promptly demanded he choose which one he liked best.

The twitch twitched with it's twitching might, and Naru froze.

"Well?" Takigawa prodded impatiently.

"I think," Naru started, almost hesitantly. He knew he'd have to say something or he'd never get any peace, but he wasn't willing to play along. "That you're being ridiculous. I am _not_ giving Mai lingerie. Nor, will I ever in the foreseeable future."

Yasuhara sighed. "Well you're no fun." He whined, pouting at Naru with all he had.

"Hmm, does that mean if blindfold you, you might do it?" Takigawa asked, a playful gleam in his eyes. Nara glared at him.

Well, as best as one could when they had a twitch being all twitch-like and twitchy. How dare a twitch twitch?

In fact, How dare a Naru twitch twitch and ruin his death glare? His lovely, instant death, killer of a glare was _never_ ruined. It just didn't happen. And yet, here was this dreadfully unnoticeable Naru twitch, _ruining_ his precious glare. What was the world coming to?

A killer Naru twitch of doom perhaps? Just maybe.

"No, it does not." Naru managed spit out frostily, irritated at his current poor quality of death glare; and the monk, of course. But the dodgy death glare took priority.

It was at that moment that the door opened, and Lin (Naru's senior assistant) stepped inside. Takigawa and Yasuhara pounced on the poor man before he could do a thing to prevent them.

"Lin-san!" Yasuhara said cheerfully, sidling up next to him. "You're back early." Lin gave him a curt, wary nod.

Yasuhara was cheerful. Nothing good _ever_ occurs when the teen was beaming a winning smile and being all chipper. Lin didn't dare take his eyes off the boy, that smile was like a lure. Luring you into a false sense of security, before he sprang a horrid trick on you.

"Lin, good timing." Takigawa said, thumping the taller man's back chummily.

Lin's eyes widened. There was no telling what he had just walked into if both the monk and the deceptive demon child had decided to team up. He wondered vaguely if he could get away with turning on his heels and running back out of the office before they could spring whatever trap it was they had prepared.

One look at Naru's cold stare from the couch told him 'no'. Or rather; 'If I have to be submitted to this, so do you. Now suck it up!'

It was amazing just what the two could communicate with naught but a glance.

"We were just discussing what Naru should give Mai for a Secret Santa present." Takigawa said conversationally, steering the older man towards the couch, Yasuhara falling into step on his other side. Lin raised an eyebrow. Was that all? Perhaps he had over reacted.

And then Yasuhara handed him the open catalogue.

_Oh dear lord…_

"We can't decide between strings..." Yasuhara pointed at the green set and Lin's eyes followed automatically.

"Or the lace." Takigawa said, indicating the other set up for debate. Again, Lin's eyes followed before he could stop them. A faint blush shone on his cheeks as his mind turned to mush. He had never been able to look at the lingerie section and think straight. A definite flaw in his personality, as far as he was concerned; though many others seemed to find immensely amusing.

From the couch, Naru's twitch twitched in all it's utterly unnoticeable glory. As a Naru twitch should. Lin was stuttering, a stupid expression on his blushing face, and it only served to irritate Naru further.

"The black lace?" Takigawa asked eagerly, noticing the drool threatening to drip from Lin's open jaw. "I like your taste! So, the black lace for Mai, it is!" He gave Yasuhara a triumphant grin.

Mai?

Lin suddenly snapped back reason. Throwing a furtive glance at Naru, wondering how mad the young president would be later, he quickly straightened up. Without saying a word, he threw down the catalogue before he turned and left for his office as quick as his legs would carry him, cheeks still baring a pink blush.

Takigawa and Yasuhara stared after him, both donning identical smirks of evil amusement.

"So, Naru, when do you want to go get-" Takigawa turned to look at the couch once more, only to find it empty. "Hey, where'd he go?" Yasuhara nudged him and pointed at the Naru's closed office door. He nodded in understanding.

"Oh well, we can keep looking." He bent over the table to grab the discarded catalogue unsuccessfully. It was gone from where Lin had tossed it aside. He laughed loudly.

"Well, that's interesting." Yasuhara smirked, also noticing the missing catalogue.

It was with immense relief that the Naru twitch disappeared as soon as he sat in his office chair. He sincerely hoped that he never had to buy Mai a present again. It was a hazard that brought on death glare inhibiting Naru twitches. And death glares must _never_ be inhibited.

He threw the ugliest of death glares at the catalogue in front of him. Damned twitch inducing black lace! Naru scowled as his thoughts were once again invaded.

_Damnit!!_


	10. The Trouble With

Hello!! Finally updating after a month _ Sorry it took so long.

Thanks once again to everyone who reviewed!

Enjoy! ^_^

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**Playing with Naru-chan: ****The Trouble With…**

The trouble with having both Mai and Yasuhara in the office at the same time is that they never seem to get anything done. Or at the very least, stop anybody else from being as productive as they should be. It was a problem Naru had yet to find a solution to, try as he might. And this particular afternoon was no different, he found himself pondering, yet again, why exactly he had decided to employ either them. The answer was that he couldn't afford not to, both had proven to be valuable assets, talented and able to cope under pressure in almost any circumstances. It would be sheer stupidity to let them slip out of reach.

And Naru was not a stupid man. But sometimes he just simply couldn't help but wonder.

Times like when he would walk out of his office to find them doing something ridiculous again. Like racing around the couches on their swivel chairs, or arm wrestling, or playing catch with Lin's stress ball whilst hoping back and forth between their desks. It was something he'd grown accustomed to over time, and it always felt strange when they weren't doing something he should yell at them for.

Today was no exception.

"Mai, tea." Naru said to his young employee as he proceeded to the filing cabinets to retrieve a file on a previous case. He took no notice of the stifled laughs coming from her cubicle where she and Yasuhara were huddled over a stack of sticky notes. He heard Mai get up and move towards him; not strange at all, he was right next to the kitchen door. What was strange was that she stopped next to him instead of going straight into the kitchen.

Naru gave her a curious glance, wondering what it was she wanted when she should be getting his tea. The small brunette was holding out a folded sticky note. Naru raised an eyebrow at her, but took the proffered note anyway. She smiled at him, her brown eyes sparkling mischievously, before hurrying back to her desk. Naru stared after her a moment, a bit baffled, before unfolding the note in his hands and reading the untidy message she had written on it.

_TEA._

Naru blinked. He slowly scrunched up the piece of paper and turned to face his two employees, who were watching him with amused expressions. He gave them a glare, focusing on Mai, and was about to tell her to hurry up and get his tea, when the door slammed open and a tall woman strode in beaming, Lin trailing along behind her.

"Hello everyone!" She said cheerfully, taking in the scene before her.

"Madoka-san!" Mai cried, waving the woman over, not that she needed to, Madoka was already half way across the room. Naru fought the urge to roll his eyes as the two hugged, babbling loudly. He was beginning to regret having allowed the two to get on friendly terms, it was worse than having Matsuzaki and Takigawa in for an afternoon. He glared at the two females, choosing to ignore Lin and Yasuahara's discussion on Tokyo traffic.

"Mai," he said warningly, annoyed at being ignored. "I believe you're supposed to be in the kitchen."

Silence. Mai and Madoka stared at him indignantly, and his two fellow males let their conversation die.

Naru stared as Mai quickly scribbled something on a sheet of paper, scrunched it into a ball and threw it at him. He caught it with ease, and shot her an annoyed glare as he straightened it out enough for him read it.

_PATIENCE._

Naru resisted the urge to growl in irritation. He glared at Mai, ready to threaten her with docked pay when Madoka suddenly appeared next to him.

"Naru, I think we need to go over your manners." She said sternly. "That's no way to treat your employees. You should be nice to Mai-chan. She might put something in your tea if you're not careful."

"She isn't drunk." He scoffed, knowing very well that that was only time he was in danger of substandard tea was when she was intoxicated. He'd unwittingly fallen prey to it previously, and wished to never repeat the experience. As a result he had forbidden everyone from ever giving alcohol to the girl if there was any chance that she'd run into him before she sobered up.

Madoka glowered at him.

"That's no excuse." She snapped. "Now I'm going to go put my things in Lin's office, and then we're going to go over your manners, young man. No arguments."

Naru was about to protest, but thought better of it at the last moment. Her eyes were practically screaming 'Just you try and get out of this!' Naru sighed, and watched as the woman disappeared in to Lin's office.

_Just great._

He threw Mai a nasty glare, only to find she was no longer at her desk. Glowering in the direction of the kitchen, the only place she could have run off to, he thought she'd better be getting his tea. But before he could enter to check if that was what she was doing, Madoka re-emerged and dragged him to his office.

He'd only just sat down when Mai entered carrying a tray with a plate of biscuits and two tea cups. She seemed to be completely indifferent to Naru's glare, much to his annoyance. His eyes followed her movements as she placed his tea cup in front of him, before placing Madoka's down opposite him. She straightened up to leave, and paused long enough to throw something in his direction, before turning to the door.

A second ball of paper fell into his lap. Clearly annoyed, he smoothed it down and glared at its message.

_MORAL SUPPORT._

Naru's eyes snapped up to meet hers. She looked like she doing her best not to laugh. He gave her a withering glare. This was why it was never a good idea to let her and Yasuhara at work at the same time. That damned troublemaker was a bad influence on his young assistant; she'd never played around like this previously. In fact, aside from her habit of battling with him verbally, he'd never had much trouble from her.

Damned Yasuhara had corrupted her. Corrupted his prized tea maker in such a way that she was no longer making the tea when she should be. He glowered at his cup of tea, as he pictured Yasuhara luring Mai over to the dark side with cookies. The dark side where tea was replaced with _coffee! _He shuddered at the very thought.

_That was the troubl__e with male university students…_ He thought bitterly. Never mind the fact that he and the object of his annoyance were only a few months apart in age.

Naru made a mental note to chew Yasuhara out for it later…As soon as Madoka was gone.

_Scary woman._ He thought, watching her warily as she started to lecture him on his lack of manners.


	11. Naru Says

I had a lot of fun writing this one. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. XD

Thank you once again to all those who reviewed or added this to their alerts. You really do inspire me to write more!

Enjoy!

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**Playing with Naru-chan: Naru says.**

It had been a long day; an incredibly boring day on the job for the members of the SPR. Their current case had failed to show anything of interest since their arrival that morning, and they currently sat in the base sipping tea, looking for the most part like they'd be willing to summon a spirit to go on the rampage, if only to give them something to do.

Naru, being the sole exception to the general fit of boredom that had ensnared his employees, was the only one off taking care of something. Not that he'd bothered to tell anyone what that something was. Much to their general displeasure, the discussion of what said something could possibly be had failed to provide more than a few minutes amusement.

Thus, it was with high hopes that they all turned towards Lin when his phone rang after a rather long and stuffy silence. Unfortunately, it seemed to be nothing more than Naru calling for an update, and as nothing had happened, they turned away in disinterest almost as soon as the conversation began.

"Taniyama-san." Lin turned to the junior investigator, with the intent of passing along Naru's message for the girl. She looked up sleepily, and he continued, putting his phone back in his pocket. "Naru says not to sleep on the job." The effect was instantaneous.

"Well I wouldn't feel a need to sleep if there was something to do!" She huffed angrily; all signs of her previous tiredness wiped away as though they had never existed in the first place. "Stupid narcissist!" She grumbled getting to her feet and going to the electric jug in order to make more tea, every eye following her movements.

She was, after all, the most interesting of all the things they could be staring at.

Continuing her indignant grumbles, she went through the process of making tea that had come to be second nature, completely oblivious to the six pairs of eyes that observed her from across the room.

"Always has something to say!" She growled, pouring the boiled water into the teapot and leaving it to steep. "Don't sleep on the job! Mai! Tea!" She mimicked her boss' monotonous orders and a deep voice, pulling faces and snapping her hand about in a typical 'blah-blah-blah' movement. "Naru says this! Naru says that!" The grumbling brunette picked up the teapot and turned to refill everyone's empty cups, her face still contorted into an ogre like expression.

During Mai's little rant the other occupants of the room found their boredom slowly melting away to be replaced by a new found amusement at the girl's antics. Any last traces were swept away when Mai slammed the tea pot down on the table with a resounding thud. She pointed in their general direction and said in the most commanding voice she could muster: "Naru says, drink your tea!"

They stared at her in silence. Mai didn't move from her pose, merely continued to stare them down till they obeyed. Slowly, one by one, they started sniggering, until eventually they were all laughing loudly, even Lin. Mai glared at them indignantly.

"You're not doing what you're told!" She said sniffily. "Naru says you have to do as you're told. And you have to do what Naru says, else you'll suffer the Tea-demon's wrath." She smirked at them knowingly, hands on her hips. "And we all know you don't want _that_."

Still more laughter. It didn't look like they were going to settle down anytime soon, Mai smirked at them.

"Fine." She said turning her back on the giggling group, and drinking her own cup of tea. "I win. You're all going to suffer Naru's death glare for disobedience."

"Sit down Mai." Takigawa said, still choking back his mirth. He waved his arm at her, to get her to do as he said. "We'll drink the tea." Mai looked at him mock disbelief.

"Did you just tell someone to do something without Naru's approval?!" She gasped melodramatically. "Naru says you can't do it unless he says so! How dare you try to order me around without permission?!"

Takigawa laughed so hard he nearly fell out of his seat. Lin had to turn away from her, doing his best to hide the fact that his face was turning pink. Ayako snorted, succeeding in making the monk laugh so hard he _did_ topple on the floor. John was laughing so much he found it difficult to try and help Takigawa up off the floor, the two ending up on the floor together, rolling about like school children. Masako was laughing behind her sleeve, leaning against Yasuhara for support, who was chuckling away, hiding his mirth behind his tea cup.

After sobering up somewhat, Yasuhara waved an arm in the direction of Mai's empty seat, his eyes were twinkling merrily as he spoke. "Naru says sit down in your chair." Mai smiled at him, forgetting her feigned act of shock, and promptly sat in the proffered seat. Yasuhara grinned at her in amusement. "Mai-chan, you come up with the strangest games."

"Games?" She said innocently. "Why I'd never!"

"Never my ass!" Takigawa crowed, pulling himself to a sitting position. "Naru says, let's play."

"I don't think we should." John said, smiling warily. "What if he caught us?" The monk turned and stared at him, before grinning evilly.

"Naru says, poke John!" He laughed manically and started poking the blonde mercilessly. John scrambled to his feet as quick as possible taking cover behind Mai.

Unfortunately for him, Mai wasn't going to disobey 'Naru-sama'. She started poking him as soon as he got within reach. The young priest yelped and jumped away, only to find he was getting poked regardless of where he went. Giving up, he just stood there waiting for them to finally give up.

Luckily for John, Ayako grew bored quickly. "Naru says, Takigawa, slap yourself." The monk glared at her and refused to do it…until of course she offered to do it for him.

And thus, the Battle of Naru-says had begun. It was a brutal test of speed, wit, and sheer stupidity that amused the group for over an hour. In fact, they were so engrossed in their grand battle that they never noticed the door open and Naru enter.

Standing still as a statue in the doorway, he watched them issuing stupid orders in his name for several minutes.

And did Naru approve?

It's safe to say that, no, he didn't.

His normally immaculate face was marred with a gruesome scowl, his eyes narrowed into a death glare that would make a grown man wet himself. Not that any of them noticed.

Naru had to wonder about what annoyed him more; that they were playing such a ridiculous game, or that they were ignoring him?

After the worst rendition of jingle bells, he had ever heard finally came an end, Naru's patience finally snapped. He slammed the door closed, and found a sadistic comfort in making them all jump at the noise.

He glared at their frozen forms, not one of them daring to turn and look at him. He focussed in on Lin first, the Chinese man looking at the ceiling as though it were the most interesting thing in the world. Naru sighed, if even Lin had been swayed by their immaturity, then there really wasn't much point in them being here. Not that he was going to admit it to them just yet. They would suffer first.

Oh, yes, they would most definitely suffer.

He smirked at them sadistically, sending shivers running down their spines, before turning to look at Mai. She gulped, and slowly turned to meet his gaze, preying she didn't get turned to stone by his glare.

"Mai, tea." He said simply, soundly as though there was nothing wrong at all, though they all knew it was completely the opposite.

But Mai didn't move. Naru glowered at her.

"Mai." He said warningly. The brunette stared at him, not looking nearly as fearful as he thought she should.

"But," she said, her lips twitching in amusement. "You didn't say 'Naru says.'"

If looks could kill, Mai would have died a swift, brutal death then and there.


	12. Gene's Guidance

**Warning:** Contains major spoiler from the books! ....Though really, i doubt there are many here that don't already know about it. ^_^

Woohoo!! 100 Reviews!! *Happy dances* Thank you to each and everyone of you! You guys are simply the best XD

So, to celebrate, here's Gene's first appearance to spread the warm fuzzy feeling amongst the masses.

Enjoy! ^_^

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**Playing with Naru-chan: Gene's Guidance. **

"He said something again, didn't he?"

Mai looked up, surprised by her spirit guide's question. She was met with a familiar smirk and amused dark blue eyes. She puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.

"Narcissists should be drowned at birth." She muttered darkly, turning away from the boy that looked identical to her boss. He laughed lightly, patting her brown hair softly.

"Now, now," he smiled down at her, eyes sparkling in a way that their carbon copies never did. "You don't really mean that, now do you?" Mai crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Of course I do." She stated bluntly. His smile widened almost cheekily.

"I don't believe you." He teased. Mai glared.

"Well that's your loss." She said waving her hand dismissively. "But don't be surprised if he suddenly joins you here unannounced. I might just do what should have been done a long time ago."

"Oooh?" He asked, feigning awe. "Like what?"

"Like making him drink the worst tea in existence." Mai said matter-of-factly. The boy laughed.

"You already did that." He chuckled. "Though, you might not remember much about it." He stifled his laughter behind a pale hand.

Mai stared, getting just a tad annoyed. Why did people keep laughing at her whenever she said that?! The girl just couldn't figure it out and no one was willing to tell her, no matter how much she begged and bribed.

Deciding he'd been allowed to laugh at her long enough for one day, she poked him in the arm. "Enough already, I don't see what's so funny about it." Mai crossed her arms and shot him her best 'business mode' face. "Besides, we should be doing research for the case. If go back empty handed, Naru will dock my pay."

"He's not very nice to his most valued worker, is he?" The teen smiled wistfully.

"Valued?" Mai scoffed. "I rank about as high as a bad book; only there to fill the gap because it looks funny if left empty."

'I'm sure my brother thinks quite highly of you, Mai." He said gently, a knowing smile on his face.

"Gene, you're talking rubbish." Mai sighed in exasperation. "Now, you're the spirit guide…so how about you get guiding?" He chuckled in response, deciding it would be a waste for him to argue with her.

"There's no time," he said. "You're already late with his tea. Go back now, before he gets cranky."

"Ahhh!" Mai groaned, not looking forward to waking up. "I should go then. Bye Gene.

"Mai," Gene said, just as she was about to turn and go. "Noll is ticklish behind his ears." He winked at her conspiratorially.

She stared at him in bewilderment. But before she could think to ask him why he was telling her _that_, he had faded away and she felt the world of the living pulling her back to consciousness…

**^^**^^**

Naru sat in his chair, feeling rather grumpy. He'd waited and waited for Mai to wake up, assuming she'd have something useful to contribute towards the case. However, all he'd got out of her was a nervous laugh and something about bad books, before she'd quickly rushed off across the hall to get tea.

…Speaking of tea. He hadn't had any in hours and it was starting to irritate him; not only had he not got any helpful information, but he'd had to wait for his tea too.

He glanced up from the case file to see Mai enter the base holding a tray laden with three tea cups. He waited for her to hand him his cup, before returning to studying the documents again. Mai delivered a steaming cup to Lin at the laptop, before sipping her own cup in silence, watching Naru read.

The teen ignored her, far too used to it by now to care if she stared. Had he known the thoughts trailing through his innocent looking assistant's mind, he may have reconsidered.

Mai had been thinking long and hard about Gene's parting words. _'Noll is ticklish behind his ears.'_ The thought intrigued her; she hadn't thought of Naru as the ticklish type. And being ticklish behind the ears only caused her curiosity to pique. She was so consumed by her thoughts on the matter that she didn't even realize that she'd been gazing at his ears. Nor did she consciously decide to approach her unsuspecting boss. But before she knew it she was standing right next to him, her fingers brushing lightly against the back of his ear.

_Crash!_

Naru shrunk away in a panic, knocking his chair over and falling rather ungracefully on the floor. His eyes were wide in shock, his hand covered his ear, and he looked the closest to pink Mai had ever seen him.

Lin spun around in his chair, alert and ready to call on his shiki for assistance, only to watch the young man in amusement. Mai was staring at him in disbelief.

"No way." She said, her lips tugging into an amused smirk. "He was right, you really _are_ ticklish behind the ears."

Naru gaped at her in horror, unable to do anything else. His most guarded secret had just been revealed, and his mind was frozen in shock at the very thought that _Mai_ now had yet _another_ thing to possibly black mail him with.

Mai stood there a moment, before grinning. Naru's stomach flipped in fear at the sight.

There was a second of complete stillness, before both sprang into action. Mai lunged, Naru scrambled as far away from her as he could. He barely escaped in time, Mai was faster than he thought.

"Stay away from me!" He ordered, backing away from her warily.

"I just want to tickle you!" She flashed the evilest grin he had ever seen at him. He felt a chill run down his spine, and glanced at the door to his left, wondering if he'd make it to the door before she did.

There was a high possibility that, yes, he would. Good enough for him.

He dashed to the door. His escape was so close!

And then Takigawa and Ayako appeared in the door, blocking his way. He skidded to a stop before he slammed into them. They stared at him in surprise.

_Shit!_

He was trapped.

"Hey, Naru-bou, what's the-" Takigawa asked, raising a curious eyebrow at the youth.

He never did finish his question.

"Oi! Naru!" Mai yelled. "You're not getting away that easily!"

And to Naru's horror, she pounced on him from behind, legs wrapping around his waist, one arm around his shoulders, and the other tickling behind his right ear.

That was the first time any of them had seen Naru stagger around laughing his head off, trying his best to escape Mai's hold on him. He failed miserably before finally sinking to his knees in a fit of breathless guffaws, powerless against the girl's tickling torture.

If only they'd had a camera set up in the base.

_Damnit! _ Naru thought once Mai had finally taken pity on him and stopped. _Gene, I swear I'll get you for this!_


	13. Naruchan, Neko style!

I know, it's a week late. =_='' Sorry, I got stuck with it, and since it's a Friday the 13th one it had to chapter 13, so I couldn't post something else up for you all. *bows apologetically*

Thanks once again to all the reviewers! Really, you guys are awesome! XD

Enjoy ^_^

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**Playing with Naru-chan: Naru-chan, Neko style!**

Naru sat on the leather couch, glaring at Mai. Why did she always feel the need to decorate for pointless holidays? Christmas and New Years were fair enough, but Friday the Thirteenth? It was a silly day of superstitions, nothing more. Why bother?

Apparently Mai disagreed.

She had decked the reception area out with items from popular superstitions. A broken mirror was propped up on the filing cabinets, a step ladder at the door positioned in a such way that you _had_ to step under it to get inside, a large opened black umbrella was taped to the corner of Mai's cubicle, and strange little paper witches hung from the ceiling and any available surface; along with spider webs, spiders, and any kind of plastic bug Mai had been able to get at the toy store.

Then she'd attached a furry black set of cat ears to his head when he was purposefully ignoring her. And she was doing her best to attach a collar and tail. As if the ears hadn't been bad enough.

"It'll just take a moment," she said, leaning over to loop the collar around his neck. "I'll make sure it isn't too tight."

"Mai," Naru said, holding his hand up to stop the collar's progress. "I'm not going to wear a collar, or a tail, or these ridiculous ears. Now get rid of them, and while you're at it, clean up this mess you made. I don't need you cluttering up the office with useless junk." He watched her form a frown and huff at him irritably, a shiny number thirteen dangled distractingly from each of her ears, and the big pointed black hat perched on her head slipped to the side. "And take off that stupid hat."

"No," she refused, making a fresh attempt at attaching the collar. "It wouldn't kill you to just play along every now and then. You _might_ even have fun."

"I see no point in encouraging you to make a mess of the office." Naru said sharply, this time actually catching the collar in his hand to prevent her success. "Nor do I see any point in allowing you to dress me up as cat."

"Ahh!" Mai grumbled, trying to tug the collar out of his grasp. "But the only thing I couldn't bring was a black cat. It's just not Friday the thirteenth without a black cat, and you're always in black. I think you'd play the part perfectly." Naru glared at her.

"Are you trying to tell me I bring bad luck?" He asked, both amused and insulted all at once.

"No, I'm saying that you'd make a good cat." Mai declared, wrenching the collar free at last. "You're full of yourself –like a cat. You don't do what any of us want you to –like a cat. You have a bad temper, and the destructive power to match –like a cat. And you expect to be given whatever you ask for –like a cat." She ticked the list off on her fingertips.

"The only thing you don't do is purr." She muttered. "Or show affection. Yep, you're a pretty stuck up, pampered cat."

Naru's eyebrow twitched as she patted his shoulder brightly, stupid smile plastered on her face. Did she _have_ to go out of her way to piss him off first thing in the morning?

"Fussy too," Mai added to the list, looking suddenly thoughtful. "You're pretty picky about your food and drink."

Naru glared at her a moment, before reaching up to remove the ears. "Don't mistake a good sense of taste with fussiness, Mai." He sounded annoyed, even to himself; much as he hated to admit it. "If someone can afford to get the best, there's no reason why they should settle for anything less."

"Ah-uh-uh!" Mai grabbed his wrist, holding it away from the endangered cat ears. "Don't touch the ears, I'll have to re-glue them if you touch them too much and they fall apart."

Naru glowered at her, willing the ears to fall apart on their own, or shrivel up and turn to ash. Either was fine with him, so long as they were off _his_ head.

"And there's no need to get cranky over being compared to cats." Mai said bluntly, looking amused. "Now hold still a moment."

Naru batted the collar away again, and stared angrily up at her. Mai glared back determinedly, before retrying. What followed was a battle of reflexes: Mai to get the collar on, Naru to keep the collar off. One pounced, the other dodged and thus they wasted ten minutes of their morning, punctuated by growls, hisses, Mai's yelps of pain whenever she lost her balance and crashed into the armrest, and Naru's orders to cease and desist. It wasn't until Yasuhara entered to start his shift that their showdown came to a resounding halt.

"Morni-" Yasuhara stopped dead in his tracks, eyes wide. "Naru-kun…are those _cat ears_?"

Naru turned to glare at the teen, hopefully to shut him up before the inevitable onslaught began. Oh, he knew Yasuhara well. Well enough to know that he wouldn't hear the end of this for the next week if he let the boy get the upper hand. He was just about to say something scathing and morale crushing, when he felt something slip around his neck, and heard a faint click.

"Success!" Mai shouted, punching the air victoriously.

"Ohhhh!" Yasuhara applauded, an admiring smile adorning his face. _The devil hides himself well._ Naru scowled darkly.

"Nice timing," she turned to give the new comer a thumbs up. "You did good."

_Oh no! _ Naru thought, his reaching up to meet the smooth belt of leather that now encircled his neck.

"But of course," the bespectacled teen adjusted his glasses. Naru felt chills run down his spine. Had they planned this? Timed it just right to catch him off guard?

"Now, just need to attach the tail and we're all done!" Mai said cheerfully. She held the object in question up in an almost menacing manner and Naru automatically pulled away from her.

"Yasuhara, hold him still while I attach it to his belt." Naru's eyes widened at the order.

"Yes, Mai-sama." Yasuhara replied stepping forward to seize their boss.

Naru lost no time in leaping to his feet and making a mad dash for his office. Like hell he was letting them attach a tail! But Yasuhara anticipated the move and blocked him off, taking hold of him to prevent his escape.

"Now, now, Naru-chan," he murmured into Naru's ear, smirking as his captive struggled unsuccessfully. "It'll only take a moment."

Next thing Naru knew, his belt was being undone from behind. He looked down to see Mai's arms encircling his waist as she loosened the belt and unthread one end from the belt loops of his slacks.

"Ohhhh." Yasuhara watched with keen interest. "Mai-chan, you're very skilled, undoing a belt without looking."

"Thank you, Yasuhara-kun." Mai said cheerfully as she attached the tail out of Naru's sight. She thread the belt back into place and re-did the buckle with ease. "All done! You can let him go now."

Naru scowled darkly, craning his neck to see a slinky black tail dangling from his belt the moment he was released. He then turned to glare at Mai, intending to yell at her till her ears went numb. Mai stared back at him in silence as he prepared to make his verbal onslaught, before stifling a burst of giggles with her hand.

"Are you-" she managed between fits of giggles. 'Are you pouting?" Naru didn't answer he just turned away from her stubbornly, his eyebrow twitching, the ears slipping into a droop from the sudden movement. The normally handsome young man suddenly looked very cute and adorable, like a sulking kitten. Mai's giggles got worse, much to his dismay.

"I don't know what you mean." He said stiffly.

Mai tried not to laugh. Honestly, she really did try, but she was fighting a losing battle. The girl couldn't stop from cracking up. It didn't help that Yasuhara was smirking behind his hands.

The twitch in his eyebrow kicked up a notch. Like _hell_ he was putting up with this!

He reached up to tear the ears from his head, determined to rid himself of the horrifying things. Mai's laughter suddenly died, and he froze midway feeling a murderous aura emanating from her being.

"If you take them off before I finish for the day," she said darkly, her voice deeper and more threatening than usual. "I'll not only spoil your tea, I'll tickle you."

Naru dropped his arm, looking very much like an unhappy child. He glared at them a moment before storming into his office and slamming the door.

"And don't worry about lunch," Mai called after him. "I'm ordering in for everyone."

Naru glared at his door irritably.

Ok…so maybe he _was_ putting up with this.


	14. Rock, Paper, Scissors Part 1

Good morning everyone!

Well, it has been a while hasn't it? 2 months! O_O I'm really sorry about the wait, I got rather...stuck. Nothing I did seemed to get me out of the rut, and I came down with a severe case of writer's block. =_=''

I know excuses won't help, but I hope you'll all forgive me.

Thanks once again to all the wonderful reviewers. I appreciate your comments very much. XD

So, without further ado, here is the first chappie in awhile. It's short...but hopefully sweet. Or at least amusing. _

Enjoy!

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**Playing with Naru-chan: Rock, Paper, Scissors**** – Part 1**

A door slowly creaked open. One large brown eye peered through the gap into the silent room beyond. A smile formed as the target was confirmed.

The door closed quietly, and the person crept away on tip toes down the hall.

Silence ensued until minutes later four sets of feet tip toed back down the hall. The door was gathered around. A single hand reached forward to the handle. A faint click sounded as the door was pushed open an inch and four eyes peered through the gap.

Four grins were cracked open. The door closed once more with an inaudible click.

Four hands formed four fists. Four hands moved simultaneously.

Up.

Down.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Three hands became paper. One became scissors.

One mouth formed a victorious grin. Three sets of eyes rolled.

A hand reached for the door. The handle was grasped and turned slowly, a sharp intake of breath was heard, and then...

BANG!

The door was flung open with a force to be reckoned with.

"NARU!!" A husky male voice roared. "How could you?!"

"What iz it?" A sleep drugged voice accompanied the head of messy black hair that looked up groggily from the mattress. Dark blue eyes blinked in confusion, staring blearily at the door.

"I gave you everything!" The first voice cried angrily. "Everything! And what do you do? You cheat on me with Lin!"

"What are you-"

"Don't deny it!" A thud sounded as a foot stamped the floor. "I saw _everything_. Did it mean so little to you?!"

"I don't know wha-"

"Wasn't my virginity good enough for you?!" The words were choked with sobs. "Wasn't _I_ enough for you?!"

Silence. The blue eyes blinked in confusion.

"Well?!"

"Well what?"

More Silence. The blue eyes stared, waiting for comprehension to click into place.

"You!" There was a shuddering intake of breath. "I hate you, you-you cheating _Bastard_!"

The blue eyes were stunned as the male turned and ran from the room. The door slammed shut with a loud bang.

Silence ensued.

_What. The. Hell?_

Later that day, at breakfast, Naru stared at the man in wonder. Had it all been a dream? Or had he really been woken up by a distraught monk at the crack of dawn? More importantly, when had he ever cheated on anyone?

Never. Not once.

_Wait just a minute__!_ He thought, eyes widening in shock. _Bou-san's a virgin?!_

Naru continued to stare in dumbfound amazement, an odd array of expressions flitting across his face before he finally decided to give up and leave.

After breakfast ended and a certain black clad teen had swiftly left the room, one Takigawa Houshou grinned victoriously.

"That'll be 500 yen." He said smugly, holding a hand out.

"Damnit." A red head cursed, dumping a coin into the outstretched palm. "Why couldn't he have just acted like normal and pretend it never happened?!"

"Because even Naru-chan gets surprised." A brunette said cheerfully, a bespectacled teen nodding in agreement.

"More importantly, Bou-san," the younger male said, leaning forward. "You never told _me_ you were a virgin! I'm hurt."

The monk blushed and vacated the room as quick as his feet could carry him, ignoring the fits of snickering he left in his wake.


	15. All for the sake of a car

And after ...three, four months I finally return with another installment. I'm sorry for such a long delay, I suck. =_= My inspiration is running looooow. So, to help me get past this rather irksome setback and make up for my long absence, I'd like to offer you all a chance to annoy Naru! If you have any suggestions/prompts you'd like to read about, feel free to speak up and I'll get working on them for you.

Once again, thank you all so much for the reviews, faves and alerts. You've all left me staring at the compy with a stupid grin so many times, I've lost count! XD Also special thanks to Emina105 for poking to see if I was still about and getting me back to writing properly. You have her/him to thank, so make sure you do! XD

Soo, without further ado, here is the next installment!

Enjoy!

* * *

**Playing with Naru-chan: All for the sake of a car**

Naru glared at the group in annoyance, their stranger than normal antics grating on his nerves more so than usual. He supposed this was probably because Lin, usually the sole sane person aside from himself, was in on it as well. How Yasuhara had convinced the reticent man to join in was a mystery to Naru, though he suspected blackmail had played a major part in it.

Finding his glare had little effect; he turned around once more and strode over to the table he had claimed as his desk for the duration of the case. He frowned irritably as he heard the procession of employees trailing behind like a pack of thieves, hissing at each other to be quiet lest the 'ogre' hear them. He turned around quickly with yet another glare as a particularly loud 'first person to grab his chair gets to pick dinner!' met his ears.

They froze instantly, mid-step and mid-sentence as soon as he'd turned to face them. He felt his eyebrow twitch as the now statuesque group stood before him in complete silence. This was the fourth time he'd turned to find them suddenly freeze, only to start following him like lost puppies the moment he turned his back. It was getting really, really annoying.

"Get back to work," he growled at their unmoving faces, "I'm not paying you to follow me around like idiots."

No one moved so much as an inch, in fact, he didn't even spot an unwilling flinch. _Wonders never cease, _he thought dryly as his eyes drifted to a determinedly neutral faced Mai. That would have normally garnered some form of reaction from her at the very least, but strangely enough she seemed to be more into this…game than most of the others. It made one wonder what exactly had been said to convince them all to participate.

Seeing as he'd seemingly failed to get the response he wanted yet again, Naru turned on his heel, an annoyed frown marring his immaculate facial features, and moved once more to the table.

No sooner had he turned his back on his statue-like team did they come back to life, following him in a not so stealthy manner.

"Lin's treat!" continued the person from before, as though they'd never stopped. Naru felt a pang of irritation as the words were met by three unanimous "Steak it is!" and a solitary grunt of protest.

Not bothering to turn and glare at them again, he tossed the case file on the table top and pulled the chair out far enough to ease himself into its invitingly cushioned clutches. He shrugged off his jacket, feeling it was just a bit warm in the room to warrant its use, and draped it over the back the chair and prepared to sit down.

He paid no attention to the sudden rushed footsteps behind him, or to the scuffles and grunts as someone crashed into another person in an effort to get past first. He ignored the hissed 'Ouch! Will you quit hitting me?!' and 'Move it, old man!', as well as the crash of a certain young female tripping over the rug and straight into a cupboard shelf. All he cared about was sitting in his comfy seat and demanding a fresh a cup of tea, before getting back to work.

And then he sat down, lowering his tush onto the lovely seat with all the grace of a feline…only to find that his tush was met with air instead of the wonderful cushiness it had been promised. Before he could even completely register this new found fact, he was toppling over backwards and landing rather ungracefully on the worn down rug with a loud thud.

Feeling incredibly indignant, he glared up at the five people staring down at him in shocked silence. Mai, still struggling with the shelf she'd crashed into, was furthest away, her expression nothing less than pure astonishment. The monk and miko stood still, mid-grapple, both staring at the exceedingly tall Chinese man currently towering over Naru, chair in hand. It seemed no one had expected that Lin would be the one to de-throne their young narcissistic boss.

_Click!_

Naru's head whipped around to glare furiously at Yasuhara, who was in the process of hiding away his digital camera before anyone could confiscate it. Never one to be phased by Naru's unfriendly glares, he continued on unaffected, slipping the small camera into an unseen pocket where it could be retrieved later. Feeling satisfied with the outcome - he was certain that he had just found yet another fantastic addition to his secret scrapbook – he whipped around to face them, ignoring Naru's frosty glare.

"And Lin's the winner!" he announced brightly, dazzling them all with his winning smile and clapping his hands enthusiastically. "What do you pick for dinner?"

There was silence as they watched Lin set the chair back on the ground and return to his laptop as though he'd never left it to begin with. But they didn't miss the words "A happy meal…I want the toy race car" come from his mouth as he straightened his tie and resumed his monotonous typing.

Several hours later, an extremely grumpy Naru found himself seated in the playground of rather noisy McDonald's restaurant, doing his best to ignore the excited squeals of his assistant as she opened the sparkly fairy toy that came with her meal, and the painful protests coming from his very much abused bottom. The seats weren't anywhere near as comfy as his cushioned chair, and when added with the still smarting pain from his never-to-be-spoke-of-again fall on the ground, it was rather uncomfortable and quite painful.

Naru sent a murderous glare in Lin's direction as a small child collided with his back, causing his salad to tip into his lap. The man was oblivious to it though, he was much more interested in testing out his shiny new red car. Narrowing his eyes in disgust, Naru vowed he would make sure the man regretted this for many, many years to come.


	16. Broken Teacups

*prances in and stops suddenly before she gets skewered by pitchforks* ^_^'' now now, it's not my fault it took longer than week! I meant to to post this last week, but the site was being decidedly difficult. Soo, I decided to leave it for a few days and then try again...but I unfortunately got suckered into the sims 2, _again._ So, a day or two ago, when I finally tore myself away from trying to get cranky sims to do their homework (I swear, they're worse than normal kids!), I reread this and found that I didn't like it so much. Thus, an epic rewriting began! So, please put the pitchfork away and grin happily at the thought that not only is this the longest one so far, it's twice as good as it was before! *backs away a few mores steps, just in case*

Thank you all once again for the lovely reviews and suggestions. I've gotten some good ideas and am working on them as you read this. Hopefully I do them justice.

Sooo, now that I'm done making excuses that you probably snorted at in disgust...

Enjoy! XD

* * *

**Playing with Naru-chan: Broken Teacups**

Truly terrible weeks are usually a rare commodity for your average person, but at SPR a terrible week was so common it was considered normal. Dealing with ghosts hell bent on carrying out some horrid task –usually murder of some description– on a regular basis tends to make normal outrageous in comparison. So, for our favourite narcissist and his merry band of employees, your average disastrous week was such a stark contrast to running for their lives that it always took a heavier toll on them than the ghosts. And so, as you've probably guessed by now, it had been a _horrible_ week all round for the members of Shibuya Psychic Research.

First they had suffered pranks twice, and, as if to add insult to injury, it had been the same person on both occasions. Naru's pride had suffered greatly from the two instances that had _somehow_ slipped past his scrutiny and, as a result, everyone else had to endure his short temper. Not a particularly enjoyable experience at all, as his patience had already worn dangerously thin.

Why had he become so short tempered? Well, more so than usual. Why, because Lin had a cold, of course!

It was a terribly loud cold that had left the poor man coughing and sneezing all week long. This would have been annoying in the best of situations had his sneezes been of normal volume. But no, his were so loud and shocking he'd succeeded in startling Mai every time he let one loose. She would jump with fright at every sneeze without fail with a startled yelp and dropping whatever she might have been holding at the time. It had happened so often Yasuhara had begun a tally which, of course, had lead to him taking bets on what the final total would be.

The other reason behind Naru's positively dismal mood was Mai. Or rather, that Mai had spilt tea on his lap more times than either of them cared (or dared, as the case may be) to count. Eventually she'd been caught so unaware by Lin's bark of a sneeze she'd broke the tea cup. Naru's _favourite_ teacup. The _only_ tea cup reserved for his sole use, in fact. Any who ignored this unwritten law immediately suffered Naru's wrath. And Mai had _broken_ it.

To say Naru was _not_ a happy camper would be an understatement of epic proportions.

They'd all assumed immediate dismissal would be the punishment for anyone daring enough to touch his precious teacup without permission –heaven forbid someone should actually break it! But he'd surprised them when, instead of firing Mai on the spot, he stormed into Lin's office and stared the older man down until he agreed to leave for the rest of the week. Apparently Naru had deemed the Chinese man to be the main cause behind the untimely demise of his tea cup. So, hindered by an inability to fire the man without feeling the wrath of an irate Madoka, he'd felt that ridding himself of the culprit's presence for the time being was the next best thing.

It made perfect sense to him, and he had merely glowered irritably at anyone foolish enough to question him out of confusion. After all, no matter how clumsy Mai may appear to be, she had never once broken one of his tea cups before. Therefore, logically (also read as irrationally biased), she could not possibly be entirely to blame. And so Lin, much to his displeasure, was glared down until he reluctantly agreed.

Mai suspected it was more to do with the fact that he had sneezed and witnessed her reaction firsthand, rather than Naru's barely concealed death glare. Not that it mattered why; she was just glad Lin would be able to get well again, and that she could now deliver Naru's tea without scalding herself –or anybody else.

And finally, as though the week could possibly be any worse, the weather had been in the muggiest, dreariest, most depressing state of affairs, as it had for the past fortnight. It hadn't stopped drizzling for more than a few minutes at time, the sun had yet to show its cheery face and it had insisted on being freezing cold. It was the sort of weather that everyone seemed to hate and brought out the very worst in people. Add that to pranksters, broken teacups and a sick Lin, and you had the worst week in SPR history.

It was at the end of this horrid week that Mai found herself at her desk with nothing to do but stare into space. At least she could afford to do so without running the risk of upending a box of files or soaking Naru with tea now that Lin was home resting. So, determined to take advantage of her reprieve, she relaxed into her daydreams without fear, staring into space as time ticked by.

That was exactly how Naru found her when he left his office Saturday afternoon to fetch a file: staring at her teacup with a blank expression on her face. He stared at her a moment, sighed and shook his head in vague amusement, before fixing his trademark glare on her.

"Mai, I don't pay you to sit around, staring into space like a corpse," he spoke loudly enough to break the girl from her daze.

The results were instantaneous. She sat up with a gasp, looking around guiltily before she spotted him beside the filing cabinet.

"Sorry!" she squeaked, fully expecting to be yelled at.

Naru, however, had since turned away from her and was now busily rummaging through the top drawer of a filing cabinet.

"Mai, tea," he requested without looking up and Mai gladly jumped to her feet, happy to get away from him. She was still under the impression that she was going to be yelled at, you see.

The kettle had only just been set to boil when Mai's ears were assaulted by a loud crash from the other room. The girl jumped in shock at the sudden noise, before becoming irritated at her behaviour. You'd think that after working in her line of work, she'd have been used to such things; but no, not her. _She_ had to jump in fright at the even the slightest thing. Talk about frustrating for an assistant paranormal investigator. Luckily, she hadn't been holding anything at the time; she'd hate to think what Naru would say about her breaking a second tea cup.

Then she stopped, blinking in confusion. She hadn't caused the noise, at least not directly, and Yasuhara and Lin weren't in; that left Naru. 'Never did anything to disturb the peace, other than yell at the incompetence of it all and order tea' Naru.

"What in the _world?"_ she muttered, turning to re-enter the reception area and investigate. Wondering how on earth Naru could be the cause of such a ruckus and hoping to whatever god might be listening that it had nothing to do with her. Though she normally wouldn't bat an eyelid, the way her nerves were she didn't think she could stand up to Naru's wrath just right then.

What Mai found upon entering the room brought her to a grinding halt. Who could blame her? The sight was certainly unexpected, especially for Naru. Besides, who would ever think they'd find Naru in a heap on the floor? But that was precisely where he was, the filing cabinet tipped over beside him, its contents scattered about him on the light coloured carpet.

Mai stared, completely baffled. After a moment though, she gathered her wits about her and stepped towards Naru's still form. He hadn't moved an inch since she'd arrived to investigate, nor had the teen shown any sign of having noticed her presence. His dark eyes were fixated on something on the floor, staring almost as though he was afraid of what might happen if he were to look away even for the briefest of moments.

Following his gaze, perplexed as to what had garnered so much attention, Mai tried to locate the threat. But try as she might, she couldn't see anything dangerous or threatening and turned to Naru questioningly.

"Naru?" she asked gently, resisting the urge to snap her fingers to catch his attention, "what happened?"

His eyes flickered to Mai and back again so quickly she almost thought it was her imagination. When it became apparent that there would be no immediate reply, she turned once more to scrutinise the area he was watching intently. Mai frowned, all she could see was a small brown stone, nothing to warrant so much attention.

She stepped forward, peering around in an attempt to notice what was so alarming, wondering as she did if it was something of the paranormal sort that she hadn't sensed. Mai certainly hoped not, if it was enough to spook even Naru, she didn't want to know just how dangerous and scary it could be.

As the brunette spied the area, she saw the apparent stone move. It slowly rose to reveal the slimy tail and set of antennae of a snail. Mai stared. '_A snail? What is it doing in here?_' She sighed, remembering that this was the sort of weather for it and she shouldn't be surprised to find one inside. She reached down to pick it up and take it outside where it belonged.

"Don't touch it!" Naru said suddenly, startling Mai from her task. Withdrawing her hand quickly, she turned to stare at him, wondering if he was joking. Though, if she'd just stop to think about it, she would have known that it couldn't possibly be a joke, Naru just didn't joke. Period.

"Why not?" she asked warily.

Perhaps it was a possessed snail, she supposed thoughtfully and immediately choked back a laugh. Mai was forced to suppress a fit of giggles as she thought of what kind of reaction she'd get if she called Bou-san to come and exorcise a snail for them. Forcing herself to focus, Mai waited for an answer from Naru that never came. Naru was very much tight lipped, slightly paler than usual and glaring at the tiny snail like it had personally offended him. Mai raised a curious eyebrow, a suspicious thought coming to mind. She stared at him, not daring to believe it was even remotely possible, and yet... But this was Naru, he who flinched at nothing, the imperturbable man. So why did Mai think he was frozen in place as though afraid something would pounce?

The thought was inconceivable; laughable even. But everything seemed to be pointing to this one conclusion: Naru was terrified of snails.

Mai was relieved at first; thankful that was all it was. Naru scared of snails was a lot better than Naru scared of some unseen danger of the ghostly kind. But slowly her thoughts began to turn to curiosity. Just why exactly was the unflappable Naru scared of snails?

And then her mind found the absurdity of that thought.

She nearly ran out of the room, choking down laughter, but somehow managed to hold down her giggles, though she was jerking oddly with every suppressed guffaw. After a moment of breathless laughter, she cleared her throat and, putting on what she hoped was a straight face, turned to Naru again. The indignant glare that met her almost made her collapse into another fit of giggles. Swallowing the threatening outburst, she grinned at him.

"Why, Naru-chan, what could have happened here?" she teased, almost laughing as he frowned at her. Mai held her hands up as he opened his mouth to make a retort. "Ok, ok, I'll stop. I'll just take this little guy outside and you can return to your regular calm and collected self."

"Mai, don't-" Mai waved him off as she picked up the snail with ease and walked to the door.

"I'll be _fine_, it's just a snail," she opened the door and started leave, "I'll be back in a minute."

And return she did, after having a good cackle fit on the sidewalk, of course. She entered the office once more to find Naru calmly picking up the files and returning them to their rightful home as though nothing had happened. She was just about to say something, when Naru fixed her with an annoyed glare.

"I believe I requested tea," he snapped.

Mai glared at him a moment, she should have known the jerk would act like that. With a huff and muttered 'is that how you thank someone?' she entered the kitchen to resume her tea making.

Her mind began to wonder whilst waiting for the water to finish boiling, drifting back to a particular case some months back with similar dreary weather. A case where she'd found herself abruptly dragged into a small storeroom with a broken lock by the narcissist himself.

"So that's why!" she exclaimed loudly, hitting her palm with her fist as the realisation hit her. "That jerk! Getting me stuck in a storeroom for two and a half hours because he saw a snail!"

No sooner had the words left her mouth, did she hear the filing cabinet slam shut loudly. She winced slightly, regretting having spoken out loud. He was not going to be in a good mood now. Sighing resignedly, she poured the water into the teapot and waited for the tea to steep.

"Mai," Naru's voice startled her as she hadn't heard him come into the kitchenette. She whirled around to stare at him in surprise as he stepped forward till he was so close she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. "If you mention this to anyone, I'll dock your pay."

Mai huffed indignantly. "You don't have to tell me, I wasn't going to anyway."

He quirked an eyebrow in disbelief, clearly not believing her for even a flicker of a moment. "You laughed."

"Wouldn't you?" she shot back.

"Not everyone is as inconsiderate as you," he said haughtily. Mai felt an insane urge to hit him over the head for that.

"You're right, _you'd_ make some sarcastically arrogant comment about the person's incompetence," she said bluntly, turning away from him to pour the tea.

There was a pause as he seemed to consider that. Mai figured he didn't have a comeback to it and allowed herself a smug smile. Mai: 1 Naru: so many she's lost count. Well, at least it was a start.

"That aside," he said abruptly, "you don't have a very good track record with keeping secrets."

"And you can't seem to treat people considerately," she muttered darkly, "wild animal indeed. You know, Masako _still_ brings that up. I think you could have chosen a better example."

"How childish of you," he said, sounding amused. Mai could just picture the smirk forming on his face, and decided she'd rather not have it confirmed by turning around. "I was just putting things into terms you would understand."

"I see, how thoughtful of you," Mai said, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance. She picked up a teacup and turned around, holding it out for him to take. He stared a moment, but took it nonetheless, sipping it in silence. Mai raised an eyebrow at him after taking her own cup.

"Are you going to stand here all day?" she asked bluntly, "I have work to do and you're blocking the way."

"I haven't got confirmation yet," he said briskly.

"Of what?"

"That you'll keep this secret," he said, sounding a bit annoyed at her slowness.

"I already said I wouldn't tell!" she cried indignantly. "If you keep trying to insult my secret keeping abilities, I can always march back downstairs and bring Mister Snail back inside to say hi."

Mai almost flinched as the temperature dropped a few degrees. _Nice one, Mai_, she berated herself silently,_ now he's really pissed._

"Taniyama-san," he said coolly, "I believe it's in your best interests to leave the snail _outside._"

Mai laughed nervously, patting him on the shoulder like he'd just told a hilarious joke. "Why, Naru-chan, I'd never dream of taking advantage of your worst fear!" She felt her forced smile slip a bit at his cold glare, but persevered nonetheless. "I'm not that low. Not when I have so many other things to take advantage of!"

Mai thought Naru's glare might kill if she stuck around much longer, but unfortunately she didn't see how she could get around him without being caught. She wasn't exactly the most agile team member, and the 'distract and run' method was out. Tickling him wasn't worth the risk, she didn't want to know what would happen if another teacup broke because she made him drop it.

Before either of them could make a move, or even speak, a bell rang loudly, signifying the office door opening. They heard Yasuhara calling out cheerfully and his head soon popped around the corner, a huge grin on his face.

"Good afternoon," he said brightly, moving into the room, his hands carefully cupped in front of him. "Look what I found outside, it's the biggest snail I've ever seen!"

_Smash!_

Oh dear, Mai thought idly minutes later as she picked up the tea covered shards. So much for not breaking anymore teacups.


	17. Rock, Paper, Scissors Part 2

Yo! Long time no see~! *sweat drop* Sorry~! Please don't hurt me!

It seems we've made it to 200+ reviews! O.O You guys rock!! Thanks so much for all the supportive feedback, it helps!

On another note, I've just been asked about allowing a french translation, to which I've said yes. So look out for that! I'll make sure to give further details as they come for all you french speakers out there.

Well, finally, here's the next part. I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

**Playing with Naru-chan: Rock, Paper, Scissors – Part 2**

A door slowly creaked open. One large brown eye peered through the gap into the silent room beyond. A smile formed as the target was confirmed.

The door closed quietly, and the person crept away on tip toes down the hall.

Silence ensued; until minutes later, four sets of feet tip toed back down the hall. The door was gathered around. A single hand reached forward to the handle. A faint click sounded as the door was pushed open an inch and four eyes peered through the gap.

Four grins were cracked open and the door closed once more with an inaudible click.

Four hands formed four fists. Four hands moved simultaneously.

Up.

Down.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Two hands became rocks. Two became scissors.

Two smirks were shared. Two hands repeated the ritual. One hand became paper; the other scissors.

There was a short intake of breath, a flick of hair over a shoulder, and the clearing of a throat. A shiny red blouse was pulled from a bag. A hand stretched out, the door handle grasped, and the door slowly swung open.

The blouse was thrown into the room, landing lightly on top of a messy head of black hair. A moment of baited silence followed. The head did not stir. A satisfied smirk slowly formed, as the door was pulled almost closed.

One deep breath; a moment's pause; and then…

BANG!

The door was slammed open with a force to be reckoned with.

"NARU!" a shrill female's voice screeched, "This has to stop!"

"Mmwhaa?" was the mumbled response of the head of messy hair as it stirred, lifting up from the pillow groggily. A pair of blue eyes blinked blearily up at the door.

"Don't play dumb!" the woman snapped harshly, "I know it was you, so just admit it."

Silence followed.

The blue eyes blinked slowly in confusion, "admit what?"

"Admit what?" echoed the woman. "Admit what?! I'll show you what!"

The woman strode forward, seized the battered looking red blouse and waved it in the still half-asleep male's face.

"That's what!" she roared accusingly. "You've been stealing my clothes and wearing them for Lin! And don't you deny it! I saw it all!"

No response, just a bleary eyed blink of sleepy confusion.

"And will you look at the state of this?!" The blouse was waved about frantically, the tears in its fabric in clear view as she yelled in outrage. "My favourite blouse! In tatters!"

"Now, I don't know what kind of masochistic stuff you're into, nor do I want to. But! Don't. Do. It. In. MY. Clothes!" she yelled, poking the male sharply with each word.

The woman turned on her heels and stormed out, pausing at the door and throwing a menacing glare over her shoulder. "If I find any more of my clothes missing, there will be hell to pay, and don't you forget it!"

The door slammed shut leaving the bewildered male to blink blankly in the sudden silence.

Later that day, at breakfast, Naru stared at the woman in wonder. Had it all been a dream? Or had he really been woken up by the furious miko at the crack of dawn? More importantly, what the hell did she mean by 'masochistic stuff'?

He was _**not**_ a masochist! Nor had he ever worn women's clothing! Never. Not once.

He glared at the red head over the edge of his teacup. Waking him up for that nonsense; the nerve!

Naru was about say something scathing and unmistakably mean to the women when Lin slipped into the seat next to him and proceeded to help himself to a slice of toast. Seeming to sense the younger man's gaze, the Chinese man turned slightly in his chair to face him.

"Naru," he said, leaning in closer. "I must say, last night was very…interesting. I had no idea you liked that sort of thing."

There was utter silence as they all stared in shock. Lin rarely ever said anything at breakfast, short of an obligatory grunt of greeting.

And then Ayako slammed her hands down on the table in triumph. "I knew it!" she screeched accusingly.

How Naru managed to keep his composure through the onslaught of questions and teasing till he had finished his cup of tea and could depart the room, he would never know. He fled the scene in mortified silence, trying to remember exactly _what_ he had done the previous evening, much to amusement of four grinning schemers.

After a certain black clad teen had left the room as though chased by bloodthirsty hyenas, one Ayako Matsuzaki grinned victoriously.

"That'll be 1000 yen," she said smugly, holding a hand out.

"Damnit," the monk cursed, dumping a coin into the outstretched palm. "I thought for sure he'd have recovered from that one."

There was a smattering of amused laughter, before a bespectacled teen turned to Lin in curiosity. "So, what exactly happened last night, Lin-san?"

The man blinked in surprise, a bit bemused by the morning's excitement. "Naru just showed he has extensive knowledge of Hello Kitty products," he explained in a calm tone.

Lin ignored the simultaneous dropping a jaws as he finished off his toast and swiftly departed from the room.


	18. Jenga Master

Long time no see! I'm sorry for the utter lack of anything from me in a very long time. It's been a busy and troublesome year. Currently, my computer is dead, so I bring you this from my housemate's computer, which I can't abuse too much. As result I can't say how long the wait will be for the next update, but please be patient, I haven't forgotten about any of my stories!

I know this really isn't anywhere near as good as should be and I tossed around the idea of a papermache runners up trophy and such, but well, it seemed too silly. If that's even possible for me.

But, well, do try to enjoy.

-Jac

* * *

**Playing with Naru-chan: Jenga Master**

The lights dimmed suddenly, flickering sporadically as the rain banged noisily on the roof and lightning flashed with a thunderous roar outside the windows. Naru grit his teeth, his dark blue eyes narrowing dangerously as he focused on his unexpected opponent in the fluctuating light. He hated to admit it, but the situation was bad; one false move and he was going to be in serious trouble. It had been a tough battle thus far, control of the situation wavering between him and his adversary making it difficult to predict the outcome. The swift reactions of his opponent were a force to be reckoned with, he suspected they were the result of harsh daily training. Training he had never before under gone.

Flashes sprung to mind of the reactions the others would have if he failed here. He didn't think he could stand it –Mai would never let him live it down and the thought of her (or anyone's for that matter) taunts were intolerable. It was an outcome that must be thwarted at all costs! He could not fail.

Frowning with concentration, he studied the wooden tower of blocks, analyzing its structure and trying to find the ideal move. It couldn't simply be the easiest move; that would be a cop out. He had to find one with the right degree of difficulty. It had to be a challenge. Most of all he had to one up the opponent. Naru glanced over the wobbly tower of blocks at the calm old man seated opposite him. His mild smile grated on his nerves. It was as if the old man new everything he was about to do, like he was already a hundred moves ahead and nothing Naru did would catch him off guard.

Mentally muttering he reached for a block near the bottom and with a steady hand withdrew it from the tower. The blocks wobbled dangerously for a moment as though upset by the thunder roaring outside, before steadying enough for him to place the block on the top with an air of ease. The infuriating thing was that as soon as he did the old man, hands shaking, swooped in and seized a block seemingly at random. Naru scowled as he retrieved the block and plopped it on top, the tower shaking as he went and yet staying miraculously upright.

There was a muffled laugh to the left and Naru forced himself to turn the scowl from his opponent to the spectators. Yasuhara was wearing an almost identical smile to the old man, the monk was sitting back, his hand behind his head and a bright grin on his face and Mai was crossed legged on the floor humming innocently as she looked away from him. He glared at the girl, blaming her entirely for his current situation. It was she who had accused him of being incapable of playing games when he had first rejected the challenge to a match. It was she who had practically torn his pride to shreds as she continued to harass him about it. And it was she, Mai, who had succeeded in getting him to willingly accept the match of jenga with the client's shaky, wrinkled, infuriatingly mild, grandparent.

And now he was losing and she was laughing at him, curse her.

Feeling very much misused, he didn't think about his next move as much as he should. He didn't consider the pros and cons and just seized the nearest block, pulling it from the tower jerkily so that it shook and wobbled twisted with the sudden movement. He glared at the blocks, willing them to be still, and placed the block on the top just as roughly.

There was a low whistle from the monk, either at the fact that it was a lucky shot, or at the fact Naru had finally lost his temper after half an hour. Either was entirely valid. Naru smirked in all his smugness, fully confident in his skill.

But the tower still wobbled under the flickering light. Yasuhara coughed politely in an attempt to get their attention on the tower as the twisting structure shook dangerously and then, as if in time to the rattling of the wind outside, it leaned to the right and seemed to slide over and topple to the floor accompanied by and almighty flash of lightening and clap of thunder. Naru stared in horror, all traces of the smirk wiped clean off his face.

The old man grinned, his false teeth almost falling from his mouth. The Monk laughed loudly, saying something that just couldn't be made out through the guffaws and Yasuhara suddenly whipped out a camera and started snapping pictures of the scene, claiming that this needed to be recorded for future generations.

Naru continued to stare in shock. He'd lost. Lost….Lost, lost, lost, lost, lost, lost, lost! It was unheard of. He didn't just lose. He didn't! And yet he had. He'd allowed himself to be bested by an old man, an old shaky man at that. There was no consoling himself for this. It had been entirely his own fault.

He jerked as a hand was suddenly patting his shoulder. Looking over he saw that Mai was crouched next to him, looking sympathetic. He gave her a blank stare. "There, there Naru-chan," she said, continuing to pat his shoulder, "It's alright, not everybody can be a jenga master." Naru scowled at her and made to shake her off, but she took a firm hold of his shoulder and continued. "Maybe next time we should start you off on something less complicated," she pondered this a moment before saying, "snap maybe? But that might be a bit too fast paced for you, eh." She continued to smile cheerfully as she went on, debating the pros and cons of snap as Yasuhara got up close and personal with the camera, being sure to get as many shots as possible. Naru scowled at them, upset and angry. He was a very, very sore loser.


End file.
